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8n:iftiii^airll8ifei l liiS8!88MlilKBtt!jfeyj; 




f 







no,s'7. _ 







/ 











f 












SUMMARY TECHNICAL REPORT 
OF THE 

NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH COMMITTEE 


This document contains information affecting the national 
defense of the United States within the meaning of the 
Espionage Act, 50 U. S. C., 31 and 32, as amended. Its trans¬ 
mission or the revelation of its contents in any manner to an 
unauthorized person is prohibited by law. 

This volume is classified RESTRICTED in accordance with 
security regulations of the War and Navy Departments be¬ 
cause certain chapters contain material which was RE¬ 
STRICTED at the date of printing. Other chapters may 
have had a lower classification or none. The reader is advised 
to consult the War and Navy agencies listed on the reverse 
of this page for the current classification of any material. 


RIcGRADLD UhsO-AS*: r i 

ORDER SEC ARMY BY TAG 0 4 3 11 3 


flEETnilBBIBB 








Manuscript and illustrations for this volume were prepared 
for publication by the Summary Reports Group of the 
Columbia University Division of War Research under con¬ 
tract OEMsr-1131 with the Office of Scientific Research and 
Development. This volume was printed and bound by the 
Columbia University Press. 

Distribution of the Summary Technical Report of NDRC 
has been made by the War and Navy Departments. Inquiries 
concerning the availability and distribution of the Summary 
Technical Report volumes and microfilmed and other refer¬ 
ence material should be addressed to the War Department 
Library, Room 1A-522, The Pentagon, Washington 25, D. C., 
or to the Office of Naval Research, Navy Department, Atten¬ 
tion : Reports and Documents Section, Washington 25, D. C. 

Copy No. 

5 


This volume, like the seventy others of the Summary Tech¬ 
nical Report of NDRC, has been written, edited, and printed 
under great pressure. Inevitably there are errors which have 
slipped past Division readers and proofreaders. There may 
be errors of fact not known at time of printing. The author 
has not been able to follow through his writing to the final 
page proof. 

Please report errors to: 

JOINT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD 
PROGRAMS DIVISION (STR ERRATA) 

WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 

A master errata sheet will be compiled from these reports 
and sent to recipients of the volume. Your help will make 
this book more useful to other readers and will be of great 












SUMMARY TECHNICAL REPORT OF THE 
APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY PANEL, NDRC 

VOLUME 1 


HUMAN FACTORS IN 
MILITARY EFFICIENCY 

APTITUDE AND CLASSIFICATION 


OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT , 
VANNEVAR BUSH, DIRECTOR 

NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH COMMITTEE,, 
JAMES B. CONANT, CHAIRMAN 

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY PANEL 
CHARLES W. BRAY, CHIEF 



WASHINGTON, D. C., 1946 


WAR DEPARTMENT 

LIBRARY 

WASHINGTON, D. 0 . 




REGRADED UNClAy^H® 


ORDER SEC ARMY SY TAG 


V. - 

fap 0 4 


coi 






NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH COMMITTEE 


x -JAN12 



James B. Conant, Chairman 
Richard C. Tolman, Vice Chairman 
Roger Adams Army Representative 1 

Frank B. Jewett Navy Representative 2 

Karl T. Compton Commissioner of Patents 3 

Irvin Stewart, Executive Secretary 


1 Army representatives in order of service: 

Maj. Gen. G. V. Strong Col. L. A. Denson 

Maj. Gen. R. C. Moore Col. P. R. Faymonville 

Maj. Gen. C. C. Williams Brig. Gen. E. A. Regnier 

Brig. Gen. W. A. Wood, Jr. Col. M. M. Irvine 

Col. E. A. Routheau 


2 Navy representatives in order of service: 

Rear Adm. H. G. Bowen Rear Adm. J. A. Furer 
Capt. Lybrand P. Smith Rear Adm. A. H. Van Keuren 
Commodore H. A. Schade 
3 Commissioners of Patents in order of service: 
Conway P. Coe Casper W. Ooms 


NOTES ON THE ORGANIZATION OF NDRC 


The duties of the National Defense Research Committee 
were (1) to recommend to the Director of OSRD suit¬ 
able projects and research programs on the instrumen¬ 
talities of warfare, together with contract facilities for 
carrying out these projects and programs, and (2) to 
administer the technical and scientific work of the con¬ 
tracts. More specifically, NDRC functioned by initiating 
research projects on requests from the Army or the 
Navy, or on requests from an allied government trans¬ 
mitted through the Liaison Office of OSRD, or on its own 
considered initiative as a result of the experience of its 
members. Proposals prepared by the Division, Panel, or 
Committee for research contracts for performance of 
the work involved in such projects were first reviewed 
by NDRC, and if approved, recommended to the Director 
of OSRD. Upon approval of a proposal by the Director, a 
contract permitting maximum flexibility of scientific 
effort was arranged. The business aspects of the con¬ 
tract, including such matters as materials, clearances, 
vouchers, patents, priorities, legal matters, and admin¬ 
istration of patent matters were handled by the Execu¬ 
tive Secretary of OSRD. 

Originally NDRC administered its work through five 
divisions, each headed by one of the NDRC members. 
These were: 

Division A—Armor and Ordnance 
Division B—Bombs, Fuels, Gases, & Chemical Problems 
Division C—Communication and Transportation 
Division D—Detection, Controls, and Instruments 
Division E—Patents and Inventions 



In a reorganization in the fall of 1942, twenty-three 
administrative divisions, panels, or committees were 
created, each with a chief selected on the basis of his 
outstanding work in the particular field. The NDRC 
members then became a reviewing and advisory group to 
the Director of OSRD. The final organization was as 
follows: 

Division 1—Ballistic Research 
Division 2—Effects of Impact and Explosion 
Division 3—Rocket Ordnance 
Division 4—Ordnance Accessories 
Division 5—New Missiles 
Division 6—Sub-Surface Warfare 
^-^ivision 7—Fire Control 
Division 8—Explosives 
Division 9—Chemistry 
Division 10—Absorbents and Aerosols 
Division 11—Chemical Engineering 
Division 12—Transportation 
Division 13—Electrical Communication 
Division 14—Radar 
Division 15—Radio Coordination 
Division 16—Optics and Camouflage 
Division 17—Physics 
Division 18—War Metallurgy 
Division 19—Miscellaneous 
Applied Mathematics Panel 
.✓Applied Psychology Panel 
Committee on Propagation 

Tropical Deterioration Administrative Committee 


regraded unclassified 
\ SFX ARMY BY US E’ES.TS 0 4 3 1 






IV 









NDRC FOREWORD 


As EVENTS of the years preceding 1940 re- 
il vealed more and more clearly the serious¬ 
ness of the world situation, many scientists in 
this country came to realize the need of organ¬ 
izing scientific research for service in a national 
emergency. Recommendations which they made 
to the White House were given careful and sym¬ 
pathetic attention, and as a result the National 
Defense Research Committee [NDRC] was 
formed by Executive Order of the President in 
the summer of 1940. The members of NDRC, 
appointed by the President, were instructed to 
supplement the work of the Army and the Navy 
in the development of the instrumentalities of 
war. A year later, upon the establishment of the 
Office of Scientific Research and Development 
[OSRD], NDRC became one of its units. 

The Summary Technical Report of NDRC is 
a conscientious effort on the part of NDRC to 
summarize and evaluate its work and to present 
it in a useful and permanent form. It comprises 
some seventy volumes broken into groups cor¬ 
responding to the NDRC Divisions, Panels, and 
Committees. 

The Summary Technical Report of each Divi¬ 
sion, Panel, or Committee is an integral survey 
of the work of that group. The first volume of 
each group’s report contains a summary of the 
report, stating the problems presented and the 
philosophy of attacking them, and summarizing 
the results of the research, development, and 
training activities undertaken. Some volumes 
may be “state of the art” treatises covering 
subjects to which various research groups have 
contributed information. Others may contain 
descriptions of devices developed in the labora¬ 
tories. A master index of all these divisional, 
panel, and committee reports which together 
constitute the Summary Technical Report of 
NDRC is contained in a separate volume, which 
also includes the index of a microfilm record of 
pertinent technical laboratory reports and ref¬ 
erence material. 

Some of the NDRC-sponsored researches 
which had been declassified by the end of 1945 
were of sufficient popular interest that it was 
found desirable to report them in the form of 
monographs, such as the series on radar by 
Division 14 and the monograph on sampling 
inspection by the Applied Mathematics Panel. 
Since the material treated in them is not du¬ 
plicated in the Summary Technical Report of 


NDRC, the monographs are an important part 
of the story of these aspects of NDRC research. 

In contrast to the information on radar, 
which is of widespread interest and much of 
which is released to the public, the research on 
subsurface warfare is largely classified and is 
of general interest to a more restricted group. 
As a consequence, the report of Division 6 is 
found almost entirely in its Summary Technical 
Report, which runs to over twenty volumes. 
The extent of the work of a Division cannot 
therefore be judged solely by the number of 
volumes devoted to it in the Summary Technical 
Report of NDRC: account must be taken of 
the monographs and available reports published 
elsewhere. 

The Applied Psychology Panel, under the di¬ 
rection first of W. S. Hunter and later of C. W. 
Bray, comprised a small group of psychologists 
and personnel specialists whose responsibility 
was to aid in refining and standardizing Army 
and Navy personnel procedures. The Panel de¬ 
vised selection and classification tests; it devel¬ 
oped training methods; it improved the design 
of much equipment. The work of the Panel 
proved that it is as important to get the right 
man for a military job as it is to get the right 
ammunition for his gun. 

The achievements of the Applied Psychology 
Panel cannot be measured in quantitative terms. 
But one can, for example, estimate with cer¬ 
tainty that the tests devised to eliminate the 
emotionally unfit from induction prevented the 
wrecking of many lives and the fruitless ex¬ 
penditure of much time, effort, and money; and 
one can know surely that many lives were saved 
as the result of the one study alone which 
showed that the best night lookouts at sea were 
four times as proficient as the poorest. 

The Summary Technical Report of the Panel, 
prepared under the direction of the Panel Chief 
and authorized by him for publication, is a rec¬ 
ord of scientific accomplishment and of zealous 
effort by able men working to increase the ef¬ 
fectiveness of the nation’s military manpower 
in time of national peril. The members of the 
Panel have our gratitude. 

Vannevar Bush, Director 
Office of Scientific Research and Development 


J. B. Conant, Chairman 
National Defense Research^ommittee 


1204313 















































































































































FOREWORD 


W HAT are the major problems which the 
Army and Navy must solve if sound 
strategy and tactics are to win a war? One is 
the problem of personnel. The Navy’s Bureau 
of Naval Personnel and the General Staff 
evolved by years of military experience in the 
Army attest to the importance of personnel 
problems. The names of the General Staff divi¬ 
sions themselves indicate the extent of Service 
interest in the efficient use of manpower—G-l, 
Personnel; G-2, Intelligence; G-3, Training; 
and G-4, Supply. The interest in man is peren¬ 
nial. New methods of warfare, new explosives, 
new devices appear on the military scene, serve 
their period of usefulness, and become obsolete; 
the officer and the enlisted man remain. 

During the war years 1940 to 1942 the Serv¬ 
ices turned to scientists for help on personnel 
problems just as they did for help on materiel 
problems. Psychological sections were organ¬ 
ized in various branches of the Army and Navy. 
In 1940, the Adjutant General set up a Person¬ 
nel Procedures Section. In 1941, the Air Sur¬ 
geon created a Psychological Division. Early 
in 1942, the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and 
Surgery established an Aviation Psychology 
Section. Later that year the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel organized a personnel research pro¬ 
gram. 

Within the National Defense Research Com¬ 
mittee [NDRC] civilian scientists and engi¬ 
neers, engaged in research and development of 
military devices, also turned to the psychologist. 
Man is such an important factor in the success¬ 
ful use of military equipment that there was 
early recognition of the need to study the man- 
machine combination, not the machine alone 
and not the man alone. Research on fire control, 
underwater sound, and communications equip¬ 
ment included psychological research on the 
human operators of these types of equipment. 
In night operations, too, the significance of the 
human factor was evident, and NDRC under¬ 
took psychological research on night vision. 

These scattered activities in and out of the 
Services proved the value of psychological re¬ 
search in meeting some Army and Navy prob¬ 


lems. Measurable increases in the efficiency of 
personnel followed the application of psycho¬ 
logical techniques. These improvements were of 
interest to nearly all branches of the Services 
and to a number of divisions of NDRC. The 
result was that psychological research units 
came to be sponsored by a remarkable variety 
of organizations: administrative, medical, engi¬ 
neering, physical, and mathematical. 

In spite of the diversity of its sponsorship, 
psychological research was always psycholog¬ 
ical, studying the man in relation to the ma¬ 
chines he had to operate. Experience proved 
that the same knowledge and the same experi¬ 
mental methods helped to solve military prob¬ 
lems which at first appeared quite unlike each 
other. Thus the merits of a single coordinating 
psychological research unit gradually became 
apparent. There was need for such a group to 
encourage the development of an overall, pro¬ 
fessional approach to military psychology. 
There was need for such a group, not to take 
over the many scattered groups already in ex¬ 
istence, but to supplement their work by enter¬ 
ing into fields which their limited directives and 
cognizances prevented them from entering. 

In direct recognition of this need the Navy 
Department, with the War Department concur¬ 
ring, on June 4, 1942 requested NDRC to estab¬ 
lish the Committee on Service Personnel— 
Selection and Training. This committee was 
formed in the National Research Council under 
an NDRC contract. The civilian members of 
the Committee consisted of John M. Stalnaker, 
Chairman, George K. Bennett, Leonard Car¬ 
michael, Clarence H. Graham, and Morris S. 
Viteles. Walter V. Bingham and P. E. McDowell 
served as Army and Navy representatives. The 
writer was the committee’s executive secretary. 
He was assisted by John L. Kennedy. 

In October 1943, the Committee on Service 
Personnel became the Applied Psychology Panel 
of NDRC. The Panel membership consisted of 
the civilian members of the predecessor com¬ 
mittee with the addition of Walter S. Hunter, 
who served as Chief \f the Panel until the 
Japanese surrender, ancNpael Wolfle.yJohn L. 





regraded unclassified 

SEC ARMY BY f"2 0 4 SJLj 






FOREWORD 


Kennedy and the writer were the technical 
aides. Later, Dael Wolfle also became a tech¬ 
nical aide. 

The first work of the Committee was almost 
entirely directed toward the solution of prob¬ 
lems which had high priority because of the 
shortage of manpower or the importance of the 
job itself, but which were not being studied by 
preexisting groups of psychologists. These spot 
programs concerned the selection, classification, 
and training of personnel. As the work pro¬ 
gressed, emphasis gradually shifted to attacks 
on more fundamental problems of simplifying 
selection, classification, and training procedures 
through improvements in the design and oper¬ 
ation of equipment. In the course of this shift 
many of the psychological projects came to be 
liaison as well as research centers, in which 
engineers, scientists, personnel men, and com¬ 
bat officers brought together their problems of 
man-machine efficiency and developed coordi¬ 
nated research programs on many aspects of 
military psychology. 

The experimental development and evalua¬ 
tion of personnel procedures led to marked 
improvement in Service efficiency. The two vol¬ 
umes of this Summary Technical Report contain 
the evidence that scientific methods can solve 
personnel problems in gunnery, fire control, 
communications, radar, and night operations; 
in surface, subsurface, ground, aerial, and am¬ 
phibious units; in elementary, basic, advanced, 
and operational training. 

The reader who studies the detailed record 
contained in the Panel’s Summary Technical 
Report will note one characteristic which is 
common to all successful research in military 
psychology. Studies of classification, training, 
and equipment, diverse though these subjects 
may appear to be, all rely on a common tool, 
the measurement of human performance on the 
job. The psychologist calls such a measurement 
the “criterion.” The criterion is the measuring 
stick with which he evaluates the success of a 
proposed test or procedure. Psychological tests, 
training aids and procedures, and designs for 
equipment, however sound they may be from 
a theoretical point of view, are valuable only in 
proportion as they improve human perform¬ 
ance. That performance must be measured if 


one is to know whether or not improvement has 
actually occurred. Three examples of the use 
of the criterion in military psychology are given 
in order to define the nature of psychological 
science today. 

When the Army and Navy asked the Panel 
to construct a test for the selection of radio 
code operators, the first problem was to develop 
a sensible, reliable, accurate, and objective cri¬ 
terion measure of men’s ability to receive code. 
Without such a criterion measure, there was 
no basis for knowing which of the already 
existing code aptitude tests was best or of 
knowing whether new tests were any better 
than the old ones. The development of a good 
criterion made it possible to construct a new 
code aptitude test, better than any previous 
ones. The new test was adopted by both Army 
and Navy. 

When the Navy asked the Panel to evaluate 
several procedures for transmitting code mes¬ 
sages over radar systems, the same kind of 
questions had to be answered. In this case, how¬ 
ever, the problem was to define the best rate at 
which to send messages and the best way of 
training radar operators to receive messages 
on their oscilloscopes. A solution based on fact 
rather than on opinion was possible only by 
measuring the proficiency of various groups of 
radar operators in receiving code at various 
rates after various kinds of training. 

When the Army Air Forces requested the 
Panel to improve the controls of the B-29 gun- 
sight, the question of a criterion arose again. 
An endless variety of controls was possible. 
Each suggestion had its advocates, but because 
the accuracy of aerial gunnery was so difficult 
to measure, choice among the alternatives was 
based on opinion instead of fact. 

The controls of a standard B-29 gunsight 
were attached to writing pens on a strip of 
paper. The paper moved at a constant speed 
under the pens. When the gunsight moved, the 
pens moved proportionally. With this device the 
gunner tracked a synthetic target. The ink rec¬ 
ord furnished a measure of the proficiency of 
the gunner. 

With this new criterion, one defective control 
was spotted at once, ifach tiipj that a gunner 
pressed his trigger Jme jpsfinght jerked 10 or 


. REGRADED UNCLASSIFIED 

ORDER SEC A AV as TAS ■ 0 4 3 lj 3 







FOREWORD 


IX 


even 20 mils to one side or the other. In the 
remote control gunnery system of the B-29, the 
effect of pressing the trigger was not due to 
recoil of the guns. It was due to the relation 
between the gunner and his gun controls. The 
controls were improperly arranged for good 
triggering performance. 

The record of gunner performance permitted 
the evaluation of new controls. Choice of the 
best controls in terms of their relation to gunner 
performance was possible. The new record also 
permitted the Panel to recommend a new op¬ 
erating procedure for gunners using the stand¬ 
ard sight: Fire continuously when once you 
have begun to fire. It stimulated the develop¬ 
ment of an automatic burst-control trigger 
which fired the guns intermittently even though 
the gunner pressed the trigger continuously. 
The record permitted the evaluation of alterna¬ 
tive methods of training gunners. The same 
measure is available as a criterion for evaluat¬ 
ing aptitude tests for gunners. 

Throughout this Summary Technical Report 
the problem of securing an objective and re¬ 
liable measure of performance on the job recurs 
again and again. Whether the problem is to 
classify men, to train them, or to adjust operat¬ 
ing conditions for maximal efficiency, success 
depends upon the ability to measure accurately 
what men do. 

Considerable ingenuity was shown during 
World War II in developing measures of pro¬ 
ficiency, but too many of those measures were 
devised for school and training use. More effec¬ 
tive work could have been done if more oppor¬ 
tunities had been created for studying combat 
performance, the ultimate goal of all military 
research. In fact, the only phase of military 
operations which has so far not been directly 
studied on a large scale by the psychologist is 
combat itself. Better selection, more realistic 
training, and more efficient operating proce¬ 
dures will become available when combat per¬ 
formance is measured and used as a criterion. 

In the years to come the Army and Navy may 
have practically any kind of research program 
in the field of military psychology that they de¬ 
sire. Psychological work on military personnel 
during World War II varied from none at all to 
a thorough research analysis of the whole inter¬ 


related set of problems involved in selecting 
men for special duty, training those men for the 
duties they were to perform, and modifying the 
equipment in order to make it easier to operate 
and easier to learn to operate. The various pos¬ 
sibilities for the future are enumerated below. 

Prior to World War II it was the frequent ex¬ 
perience of psychologists interested in military 
problems to be told that the Army and Navy 
welcomed the opportunity to consult with them 
but needed no research assistance. This atti¬ 
tude persisted throughout the war years in the 
minds of some officers but was by no means 
universal, for research was not only welcomed 
but eagerly sought in a number of commands 
and on a number of problems. 

Both Army and Navy do know a great deal 
about personnel. Both have a long history of ex¬ 
perience and a record of success. In addition, 
both have the benefit of recent advice from ex¬ 
pert consultants and the results of wartime re¬ 
search studies to aid in handling personnel dur¬ 
ing peacetime. It might therefore be decided, 
either as a matter of general policy or for a par¬ 
ticular field, that no further research is neces¬ 
sary. 

The Applied Psychology Panel on a number 
of occasions was asked to furnish a man well 
acquainted with a particular type of military 
problem who could serve as an expert con¬ 
sultant for a few days’ time. During these short 
periods of consultation the man was expected to 
survey, for instance, a training installation, ob¬ 
serving the instruction and recommending im¬ 
provements in instructional material, course or¬ 
ganization, lesson plans, and examinations. 

The results of such consultations varied, de¬ 
pending upon the experience of the consultant 
and upon the similarity between the problems 
involved in the military situation and those 
with which he had had previous experience. 

One successful instance was the Applied Psy¬ 
chology Panel’s work on improving the training 
of Combat Information Center [CIC] personnel 
under Commander Operational Training Com¬ 
mand, United States Pad^c Fleet [COTCPac]. 
In this case it was possible tc^provide COTCPac 
with a consultant who had wiaWand varied ex¬ 
perience with l^th radar i 

erator training in the Services7aM%ft|^i^Ga- 


REGRADED UNCLASSIFIED 


ORDSR SEC ARttY BY TM5 BE 


2 0 4313 








X 


FOREWORD 


tional methods. In a few days’ time spent at 
each CIC school, this consultant was able to 
eliminate a number of difficulties and to suggest 
improvements which were eagerly received by 
the instructors in charge. 

The usefulness of consultation depends on the 
degree of familiarity of the advisor with actual 
Service conditions. The best of men may come 
into a Service situation with no direct experi¬ 
ence, or experience only from the remote past, 
of the details of Service operations. He can deal 
only in generalities. These do not compare in 
value with the specific, detailed recommenda¬ 
tions which are possible to an expert who has 
had the benefit of months of research work in 
a training or operating area. 

Consultation on special problems is the sec¬ 
ond type of opportunity available to the Army 
and Navy. 

As a third possibility, psychologists can be 
used to maintain already established personnel 
objectives and procedures. Psychological pro¬ 
cedures, like others, require continuing atten¬ 
tion or they gradually become ineffective. Fail¬ 
ure to maintain personnel methods results in a 
loss of the values originally attained. 

A program of maintenance is necessary. If, 
however, research is limited to maintenance 
alone, any mistake in original plans may persist 
unchallenged and new developments may pass 
unheeded. 

The final type of study which may be con¬ 
ducted consists of a thoroughgoing continuing 
research analysis of three interrelated sets of 
problems. These problems are the ones involved 
in the classification of personnel for particular 
duties, the problems involved in their training, 
and the problems involved in designing the 
equipment which they use in order to make both 
learning and operation easier and more effi¬ 
cient. 51 

Working simultaneously on selection, train¬ 
ing, and equipment problems is the most effi- 


a Since the Panel worked only on classification, train¬ 
ing, and equipment, no other Aspects of military psy¬ 
chology are considered here. I# a complete research pro¬ 
gram is*e^itemplated, consideration should also be given 
to the incihs^^>l%^Jfresearc^ on the ^hg^^RFWdTvidual 
and on the social p^i^QKjp^i^fnorale, and psycholog¬ 
ical warfare. 


cient type of program and may normally be ex¬ 
pected to lead to the greatest improvements. As 
shown above, the research methods are the same 
for all three. And the three kinds of problems 
are all centered in the human operator; they are 
necessarily interrelated. Changing selection 
standards may permit a shorter, or require a 
longer, training period. Simplifying the opera¬ 
tion of a piece of equipment may allow a relaxa¬ 
tion of selection standards and require a modi¬ 
fication of training plans. Working simultane¬ 
ously on selection, training, and equipment al¬ 
lows for the efficient coordination of plans con¬ 
cerning all three problems. 

It seems clear that the most effective research 
for the future Army and Navy will be research 
on problems related to new equipment. Research 
on the classification and training of personnel 
and on methods of operation of equipment will 
be most effective if results are available when 
new devices roll off the production line. If 
studies of equipment design are completed be¬ 
fore production begins it will be unnecessary to 
suggest field modifications or second models. 
The best time for psychological research is be¬ 
fore the need for it is obvious. It is only neces¬ 
sary to add one or a few additional mock-ups 
and preproduction models to the five or six now 
commonly constructed to make psychological re¬ 
search possible in the preproduction period. 

The direction of psychological research to¬ 
ward new equipment suggests that psychologi¬ 
cal research should be associated with other re¬ 
search and development work. Only by associat¬ 
ing psychological research with all research will 
there be automatic provision that personnel re¬ 
quirements will be subjected to intensive study 
at the most effective time. 

The Army and the Navy can have any type of 
assistance they desire. If they desire a complete 
program they must secure men with adequate 
training in experimental psychology. Whether 
psychologists will accept Service positions de¬ 
pends upon the conditions offered for experi¬ 
mental work. 

Psychologists will not enter the Army or 
Navy during peacetime unless there is good as¬ 
surance that they will be able to work effectively 
on psychological problems. That assurance de¬ 
pends upon freedom from the danger of being 



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FOREWORD 


xi 


sidetracked into routine administrative duty. 
It depends upon long-term planning; year-by¬ 
year commitments are acceptable during war¬ 
time, but not in planning peacetime research. It 
depends upon the ability of the military psy¬ 
chologist to maintain his status as a recognized 
member of the profession of psychology. It de¬ 
pends upon the creation of a single psychologi¬ 
cal command for psychological research within 
a Service or major branch of a Service. It de¬ 
pends upon a fairly high staff level of military 
supervision so that psychological planning and 
direction will be in the hands of officers with an 
appreciation of the broad implications of psy¬ 
chological research and with the authority to 
see that suitable research facilities are made 
available. 

Unless the Army and Navy are able to offer 
assurance that psychologists will be able to 
work effectively on psychological problems, the 
several hundred positions now being created for 
military psychologists will remain unfilled. At 
the time of writing this foreword only a handful 
of the thousand or more psychologists engaged 
in wartime psychological work have accepted 
permanent positions with the Services. Salaries, 
frequently 50 per cent higher than the universi¬ 
ties offer, are not attractive unless they are ac¬ 
companied by opportunities to work effectively 
and continuously on important psychological 
problems, opportunities to see the results in¬ 


corporated into Service practice, and opportuni¬ 
ties to maintain close relations with civilian 
colleagues. 

The Army and Navy can have any type of 
assistance they desire. Whether either Service 
will have an effective research program in mili¬ 
tary psychology depends upon the availability 
of personnel with adequate training in experi¬ 
mental psychology. Competent psychologists 
will be available when satisfactory conditions 
for experimental work are known to exist. 

Service interest in man is perennial. Service 
recognition of this fact is illustrated by the 
words of a battle-scarred and ribbon-covered 
Admiral appointed to demonstrate the mechani¬ 
cal and electronic marvels of the USS Missouri 
to a group of distinguished scientists from 
NDRC. His opening words, as he swept his hand 
over the deck of the pride of the fleet, were 
these: “Twenty-five hundred officers and men: 
gentlemen, twenty-five hundred sources of er¬ 
ror.” 

It was the purpose of the Applied Psychology 
Panel to help the Army and Navy reduce human 
error during World War II. The success of fu¬ 
ture efforts to reduce human error—the success 
of the future development of military psychol¬ 
ogy—rests with the Army and the Navy. 

Charles W. Bray 
Chief, Applied Psychology Panel 










































































































































































































































■ *■ r. • : 



























♦ 






























PREFACE 


T he Summary Technical Report is a syste¬ 
matic account of the work done under the 
direction of the Applied Psychology Panel. Vol¬ 
ume I describes selection and classification of 
military personnel; Volume II describes mili¬ 
tary training and the human factors involved 
in the design and operation of military equip¬ 
ment. In each of these three fields—selection 
and classification, training, and the design and 
operation of military equipment—the work ac¬ 
tually done and the effects of that work on mili¬ 
tary practice are described. 

In the foreword to this volume Dr. Charles W. 
Bray, Chief of the Applied Psychology Panel, 
has described the Panel’s recommendations for 
future research in military psychology. 

This volume and the Panel’s recommenda¬ 
tions for future work on classification are sum¬ 
marized in Chapter 1. Chapters 2 to 13 give de¬ 
tails of the Panel’s work on the selection and 
classification of military personnel. These chap¬ 
ters may be read in any order. Each gives an ac¬ 
count of one phase of the work. Chapters 14 and 
15 will give the professional psychologist an un¬ 
derstanding of the psychological principles in¬ 
volved and the methods followed in the develop¬ 
ment and evaluation of personnel classification 
devices. 

In Volume II, Chapter 1 gives a brief factual 
summary of the Panel’s work on military train¬ 
ing and on the development of design improve¬ 
ments and standard operating procedures for 
several types of military equipment. Chapters 
2 to 12 describe specific training studies. Chap¬ 
ters 13 to 17 cover general principles of military 
training. Chapters 18 to 23 discuss the design 
and operation of special types of military equip¬ 
ment. The two final chapters, 24 and 25, present 
some guiding principles for future equipment 
development. 

Cross references are given by means of sec¬ 


tion numbers, for example 11.3.5, in which the 
11 refers to the chapter, 3 to the third major 
division of Chapter 11, and 5 to the fifth section 
of the third division of Chapter 11. Commonly 
used abbreviations are explained in a glossary 
at the end of the volume. 

In writing this final summary a few tables 
have been recalculated from the original re¬ 
ports. In no case were the changes large enough 
to alter conclusions or recommendations. 

The Applied Psychology Panel has had help 
from many sources in preparing this final ac¬ 
count of its work. The Army, the Navy, the 
Applied Psychology Panel contractors, and the 
Bausch and Lomb Company have provided pho¬ 
tographs to illustrate many of the devices and 
procedures discussed. To each of these we ex¬ 
press our thanks. 

The author of each chapter is named in the 
table of contents and at the beginning of the 
chapter. Though all chapters are based upon 
the original reports prepared by the contrac¬ 
tors, many of them were finally written by the 
editor. Approximately half of the chapters were 
written by men who spent the war years in the 
field, working on problems their chapters sum¬ 
marize. The Panel and the editor are very appre¬ 
ciative of the time and effort devoted by these 
men to writing firsthand accounts of their work. 

Credit is not given in the Summary Technical 
Report to the individual psychologists who actu¬ 
ally made the contributions here reported. Their 
specific contributions can be discovered only by 
studying the original reports listed in the bibli¬ 
ographies. The Applied Psychology Panel ex¬ 
presses its sincere appreciation to these men for 
their individual contributions and for their ef¬ 
fective teamwork. These two volumes record 
their achievement. 

Dael Wolfle 
Editor 



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13 IB 









CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

1 Summary by Dael Wolfle . 

PART I 

SELECTION OF MILITARY 
SPECIALISTS 

2 The United States Navy Basic Classification 

Test Battery by Dael Wolfle . 

3 The Selection of Officers by Dael Wolfle . 

4 Eliminating the Emotionally Unfit by Dael 

Wolfle . 

5 Determining Vocational Interests by Dael 

Wolfle . 

6 The Selection of Radio Code Operators by 

Dael Wolfle . 

7 Selecting Radar Operators by Donald B. 

Lindsley . 

8 Selecting Stereoscopic Rangefinder and 

Heightfinder Operators by William E. Kap- 
pauf, Jr . 

9 Selecting Night Lookouts by William E. Kap- 

pauf, Jr . 

10 Selecting Navy Telephone Talkers by Dael 

Wolfle . 

PART II 

CLASSIFICATION OF MILITARY 
PERSONNEL 

11 Principles and Devices for Military Classifica¬ 
tion by John L. Kennedy . 

12 Organization of a Classification Program for 
Recruits by Norman Frederiksen .... 

13 Organization of an Advanced Classification 
Program by Norman Frederiksen .... 


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1 

10 

27 

36 

53 

58 

63 

69 

93 

100 



XV 













XVI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

PART III 

PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE 
DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUA TION OF 


CLASSIFICATION METHODS AND 
DEVICES 

14 Construction and Standardization of Group 

Tests by Norman Frederiksen .134 

15 Contributions to Test Theory and Test Ad¬ 
ministration by Dael Wolfle .147 

Glossary.155 

Bibliography.157 

OSRD Appointees.165 

Contract Numbers.166 

Service Project Numbers.167 

Appendix.171 

Index.289 













Chapter 1 

SUMMARY 


By Dael Wolfle 


11 INTRODUCTION 

T his chapter is a summary of the work of 
the Applied Psychology Panel, NDRC, on 
problems of military selection and classification 
—the work reported in the remaining chapters 
of this volume. The chapter is organized into 
four sections. The first outlines the Panel’s con¬ 
tributions to the development of tests for use in 
selecting military specialists. The second de¬ 
scribes the Navy classification program and the 
Panel’s contribution to it. The third describes 
the methods employed in the construction of 
tests for the selection and classification of mili¬ 
tary personnel. The fourth brings together the 
Panel’s recommendations for future develop¬ 
ment of military classification processes. 

The subtitles of the following sections include 
the numbers of the chapters summarized in 
each. 


12 TESTS FOR SELECTING MILITARY 
PERSONNEL 


additional test named the Arithmetical Com¬ 
putation Test (AC) for possible use in future 
general selection batteries. 

Statistical information regarding the GCT, 
R, AR, and AC tests (and for all tests devel¬ 
oped by the Panel) is given in Table 1. The 
first three, as part of the Basic Classification 
Battery, were used from the time of their com¬ 
pletion at the end of 1942 until the end of World 
War II, in the initial classification and assign¬ 
ment of all Navy recruits. 


i. 2.2 The Qffi cer Qualification Test 
(Chapter 3) 

The Bureau of Naval Personnel requested a 
test which could be used to select those officer 
applicants who had the ability to complete Navy 
officer training courses satisfactorily. The re¬ 
quest was met by developing three forms of the 
Officer Qualification Test (OQT). The OQT was 
used in the Offices of Naval Officer Procurement 
until officer recruitment ended at the close of 
World War II. 


1,2,1 The United States Navy Basic 
Classification Test Battery (Chapter 2) 

The U. S. Navy Basic Classification Test 
Battery consists of five tests. Project N-106 
of the Applied Psychology Panel and the Test 
and Research Section of the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel cooperated in their development. The 
Test and Research Section had major respon¬ 
sibility for developing two of the tests, the 
Mechanical Aptitude Test (MAT) and the Me¬ 
chanical Knowledge Test. The project assumed 
major responsibility for the initial development 
of the other three, the General Classification 
Test (GCT), the Reading Test (R), and the 
Arithmetical Reasoning Test (AR). The project 
developed two forms of each of these tests, pro¬ 
duced an additional form of the GCT suitable 
for administration in the fleet, and prepared an 


1,2,3 Predicting Combat 

Leadership (Chapter 3) 

In fulfillment of a request from the Office of 
the Adjutant General, War Department, the 
Applied Psychology Panel conducted a prelim¬ 
inary study of the prediction of combat leader¬ 
ship. Two classes of infantry officer candidates 
and two classes of field artillery officer candi¬ 
dates were studied. In addition, combat ratings 
of 176 infantry company officers were compared 
with several types of officer candidate school 
(OCS) records. 

Within the already-selected group of students 
in infantry OCS, it was found that nolle of 
the items of informationNobtainable before or 
upon entrance to the schooNwas high!# predic- 


dUBfllMHHilffiCrt 




r -y 

.da, Ur.Q 


P" ' ISIS 



2 


SUMMARY 


Table 1. 

Selection tests developed by projects of the Applied Psychology Panel. 


Test 

No. of 
forms 

Purpose 

Reliability 

Validity 

Service use 

Details 

in 

chapter 

General Classification 
Test (GCT) 

2 

For use in general classifica¬ 
tion of naval recruits to 
decide on type of duty or 
special training 

.94 

.32-.63* 
.27-.63 

Routine Navy use 
(NavPers 16502) 

2 

Reading (R) 

2 


.85 

.32-.59* 
.26-.46 

Routine Navy use 
(NavPers 16512) 

2 

Arithmetical 

Reasoning (AR) 

2 


.83 

.28-.63* 
.27-.51 

Routine Navy use 
(NavPers 16512) 

2 

Arithmetical 

Computation (AC) 

1 

Experimental test for pos¬ 
sible inclusion in Basic 
Battery 


.33-.69f 

Experimental use 
only; not adopted 

2 

Officer Qualification 
Test (OQT) 

3 

To predict ability to com¬ 
plete Navy officer training 
courses satisfactorily 

.90 

.48-.51J 
.33-.47 

Routine Navy use 
(NavPers 16561, 
16563) 

3 

Personal 

Inventory (PI) 

3 

To identify emotionally un¬ 
stable men likely to be dis¬ 
charged for psychiatric cause 

.66-.92 

See 

Chapter 

4 

Routine use by Navy 
(NavPers 16845), U.S. 
Coast Guard, U. S. 
Maritime Service. 
Adapted by AAF 

4 

Vocational Interest 
Inventory 

1 

To determine interests 
which might be used as an 
aid in military classification 

.77—.94§ 

Unde¬ 

termined 

None 

5 

Radio Code Aptitude 
Speed of Response 
(SOR) 

1 

To select men for training 
as radio code operators 


.50 

Adopted for routine 
use by Army as A rmy 
Radio Code Aptitude 
Test , 1944, ARC-1, 
and by Navy as Radio 
Code Test: Speed of 
Response, Form 2. 

6 

Experimental forms of 13 tests designed to select radar operators 

.81-.98 

Two of the 13 included in Navy 
CIC Aptitude Test, Form 2 
(NavPers 16980) which had 
validity of .45-.46 

7 

Speech Interview 

Un¬ 

limited 

To rate ability of men for 
duty as shipboard telephone 
talkers 


Unde¬ 

termined 

Adopted by Navy for 
routine use 

10 


♦There is, of course, no single validity for a test. The upper pair of values given are the highest and the lowest correlations found between scores on 
Form 1 tests and grades in 13 elementary Service schools. The lower pair are the highest and lowest correlations between scores on Form 2 tests and 
grades in 12 elementary Service schools. The correlations have been corrected for curtailment in range of talent, 
t Range of correlations with grades in 12 elementary Service schools. 

JUpper figures are correlations with grades in Naval Training School (Indoctrination); lower figures are correlations with grades made by women in Naval 
Reserve Midshipman’s School. 

§Reliabilities of the five scores, each representing interest in a different area of behavior, varied from .77 to .94. 























TESTS FOR SELECTING MILITARY PERSONNEL 


3 


tive of later performance. Scores on the Army 
General Classification Test and leadership qual¬ 
ities as indicated by former civilian positions 
were the two most predictive variables. 

Background information available upon en¬ 
trance to field artillery OCS was generally more 
useful in predicting success in school than was 
true of infantry OCS. Previous education and 
grades on mathematics examinations showed 
useful relationships (correlations of .33 to .48) 
with success in field artillery OCS. 

There was fair agreement between combat 
ratings and leadership ratings assigned while 
in infantry OCS. Of the other variables studied, 
only age had predictive value for combat suc¬ 
cess. The superior and excellent officers on the 
whole came from the age group 22 to 28. Pro¬ 
portionately fewer men below 22 or above 28 
were rated superior or excellent by their regi¬ 
mental commanders, executive officers, or bat¬ 
talion commanders. 


12 ' 4 Eliminating the Emotionally Unfit 
(Chapter 4) 

The Personal Inventory (PI) was developed 
in order to have available a device for making 
quick identification of those emotionally un¬ 
stable men who were likely to break down under 
the stress of hazardous duty. 

Three forms of the PI were developed. 

1. A long form containing 145 items in each 
of which the man taking the test was forced 
to choose between two short descriptive state¬ 
ments, selecting the one which he felt more 
appropriately applied to him. 

2. A short form consisting of 20 items se¬ 
lected from the long form. The 20 selected were 
those which experience had shown to be most 
useful in discriminating between acceptable 
men and men later discharged for psychiatric 
reasons. The correlation between the long and 
short forms was .84. 

3. A long form suitable for use with officers. 

The PI was used as a preliminary screening 

device to identify the men most likely to be 
given subsequent psychiatric discharges. When 
the flow of men was too great to permit careful 
psychiatric interviews of all men, the PI identi¬ 


fied those who had to be interviewed most care¬ 
fully. Validity of the PI was determined by 
measuring the success with which it could select 
in advance those men whom the psychiatrists 
later decided unfit for duty. Its usefulness as a 
screen consisted of reducing the number of 
men who had to be interviewed in order to find 
a given proportion of the men who would later 
be discharged. The number to be interviewed 
could vary depending upon the amount of inter¬ 
view time available. For example, the PI could 
select a group of 16 per cent of the total and 
in that 16 per cent include 60 per cent of those 
given discharges. If time permitted interview¬ 
ing more men, the PI could select a group 
consisting of 42 per cent of the total and in the 
42 per cent include over 75 per cent of those 
given discharges. 

Preliminary evidence indicated that the PI 
could contribute to improved selection of am¬ 
phibious forces officers, paratroopers, and avi¬ 
ation personnel. Its value in selecting Marine 
Corps officer candidates was slight. 

The short form of the PI was used by the 
Navy as a preliminary psychiatric screen. The 
long form was used by the Coast Guard and 
the U. S. Maritime Commission. The Army Air 
Forces developed a special adaptation for their 
use. 


1,2,0 Determining Vocational Interests 
(Chapter 5) 

At the request of the Adjutant General, War 
Department, an inventory of interests was con¬ 
structed for possible use in the classification of 
military personnel. The inventory was intended 
to secure information on a wide variety of 
interests, for example, vocational, social, recre¬ 
ational, scientific, and religious interests. In¬ 
formation of this type could provide a valuable 
supplement to that obtained by interviews, vo¬ 
cational history, or standardized tests of ability 
in classifying men for military duty. 

The interest inventory, a scoring key, and 
detailed statistical information were turned 
over to the Adjutant General’s Office at their 
request, for determination of its actual useful¬ 
ness in military situations. No report has been ^ 
received from that ( 




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4 


SUMMARY 


1,2,6 Selecting Radio Code 

Operators (Chapter 6) 

At Navy request the Applied Psychology 
Panel developed an improved test of radio code 
aptitude. The test first required the subject to 
learn three simple characters of International 
Morse Code and then measured his ability to 
differentiate those characters as they were sent 
at faster and faster speeds. Instructions, the 
learning part of the test, and the test itself 
were all recorded on phonograph records to en¬ 
sure standardized administration. The test was 
officially adopted by both Army and Navy for 
use in the selection of men for radio code 
training. 


1,2,7 Selecting Radar Operators 

(Chapter 7) 

A number of tests were designed for select¬ 
ing and screening radar operators. The tests 
were intended to measure aptitude for the 
visual tasks of reading and interpreting oscil¬ 
loscope patterns. Two of the tests were adopted 
after revision by the Navy for use as two of 
the three parts of the Combat Information 
Center Aptitude Test, Form 2 (NavPers 
16980). The third part was developed by the 
University of California Division of War Re¬ 
search under NDRC Section 6.1. The total test 
showed correlations of .45, .55, and .56 with 
final grades in three successive classes at Naval 
training school (tactical radar). 


1,2,8 Selecting Stereoscopic Rangefinder 
and Heightfinder Operators 
(Chapter 8) 

Standards for the selection of stereoscopic 
heightfinder operators were developed for, rec¬ 
ommended to, and adopted by the Army. A 
Panel project demonstrated the validity of these 
standards. Assistance was given to the Army 
in setting up stereoscopic testing centers where 
men to be trained as heightfinder operators 
were selected. 

When the Navy established a school for train¬ 


ing men for the rate of fire controlmen (R), 
the Army heightfinder standards were used as 
the basis for setting selection requirements for 
rangefinder operators. The Applied Psychology 
Panel work was extended at that time to in¬ 
clude studies of the selection and training 
of rangefinder operators. Improved selection 
standards were recommended to the Navy and 
adopted for general use. The Project staff 
trained Navy personnel for duty in the two 
testing centers where prospective rangefinder 
operators were selected. 

In the course of developing selection stand¬ 
ards for stereoscopic observers, information 
was obtained on the reliability, validity, and 
intercorrelations of a number of visual tests. 
Intercorrelations among the tests purportedly 
measuring stereoscopic ability were shown to 
be conspicuously lower than the test reliabili¬ 
ties. This finding suggests that the tests do not 
measure exactly the same visual function and 
that each test must measure at least some ele¬ 
ments which are specific to itself alone. A thor¬ 
ough study of military visual requirements and 
of improved methods of visual testing was rec¬ 
ommended. 

1.2.9 Selecting Night Lookouts 

(Chapter 9) 

Studies on the prediction of night lookout 
performance showed that the tests of night 
vision being used had low reliability and very 
low validity. One study, for example, showed 
no relation between scores on the radium plaque 
adaptometer and measured performance of the 
men as night lookouts. The Bureau of Naval 
Personnel directed thereafter that scores on 
the radium plaque adaptometer should not be 
recorded on the Enlisted Personnel Qualifica¬ 
tions Card. 

1.2.10 Selecting Navy Telephone Talkers 

(Chapter 10) 

A speech interview to rate the potential abil¬ 
ity of men as shipboard telephone talkers was 
developed. The interview was conducted over 
Navy sound-powered phones. It included the 
pronunciation of numbers and of all common 


RESTRICTED 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF MILITARY PERSONNEL 


5 


American speech sounds, repetition of com¬ 
mands, and extemporaneous description. 

A training course was developed to teach 
classification petty officers to administer the 
speech interview and to rate men as “well 
qualified,” “qualified,” or “not qualified” for 
duty as telephone talkers. 

The speech interview was adopted by the 
Bureau of Naval Personnel for routine use in 
the classification of enlisted personnel. 

Summary of Tests Developed 
under the Applied Psychology Panel 

Table 1 is a summary of the tests developed 
by projects of the Applied Psychology Panel 
for use in military selection. It gives pertinent 
statistical information and indicates the use 
made by the Army or Navy of each test. 

13 THE CLASSIFICATION OF MILITARY 
PERSONNEL 

The tests described in Chapters 2 to 10 were 
developed to aid in the selection of men who 
would be successful in particular military spe¬ 
cialties or to aid in eliminating those unfit for 
special types of military duty. If the Army or 
Navy had an unlimited pool of men from which 
to select its specialists, each of these tests could 
select a group of men most of whom would sat¬ 
isfactorily learn their new duties. With a lim¬ 
ited manpower supply, the military task is more 
complicated than that: all available men must 
be allocated. This process requires using every 
man and attempting to assign each to the type 
of duty in which he will be most successful. 

1,3,1 The Objectives of Classification 
(Chapter 11) 

The objectives of classification are to select 
able men for special training, to assign each 
man to the job he can do best, and to divide 
available manpower equitably among the vari¬ 
ous specialties and among the various units of 
a military force. The Applied Psychology Panel 
cooperated with the Bureau of Naval Personnel 
in three programs designed to develop pro¬ 
cedures for achieving these objectives. First 


was the classification of the crew of USS 
New Jersey. Following this there were larger 
projects to classify men for the Amphibious 
Training Command of the U. S. Atlantic Fleet 
and for the crews of destroyers being manned 
on the West Coast. On the basis of the success 
of the three programs, the Commander-in- 
Chief, United States Fleet, directed the Chief 
of the Bureau of Naval Personnel to develop 
similar classification programs for fleet-wide 
application. 

1,32 Devices to Aid Military Classifica¬ 
tion (Chapter 11) 

Four types of devices were developed to aid 
in the process of military classification. One 
was the series of tests described above. The 
second was a series of special devices to aid 
the interviewer in securing relevant informa¬ 
tion about a man's experience and ability. The 
third was a mechanical system used on ship¬ 
board for sorting personnel record cards in 
order to locate quickly the men who possessed 
needed skills or traits. The fourth was a device, 
called the selectometer, which automatically 
weights and combines a man’s scores (or other 
measures) on each of the factors considered 
important in selecting men for a particular job. 
The device differs from a human classification 
interviewer in being more consistent in the 
importance it attaches to each variable, in not 
forgetting any of the important traits, and in 
being able to weight and combine scores used 
in predicting a man’s potential success in a 
number of different jobs simultaneously. Sev¬ 
eral models of the selectometer were built for 
use in Navy classification centers. 

1,3,3 Organization of a Classification 
Program for Recruits (Chapter 12) 

The procedures followed during World War 
II in classifying and assigning Navy recruits 
are briefly described. Five improvements in the 
classification procedures are recommended. 

1. Using a primary test battery to separate 
the men of school quality from those who should 
be assigned to general detail and a secondary 
battery to determine the particular school to 


RESTRICTED 



6 


SUMMARY 


which each man in the first group should be 
assigned. 

2. Improving the interview by standardizing 
the weighting assigned to various factors on 
which the interviewer’s recommendation should 
be based. 

3. Improving the basis for filling school 
quotas by more general use of assignment pools 
and by better determination of proper priorities 
in filling quotas. 

4. Continuous research to keep classification 
tests and methods abreast of changing military 
requirements. 

5. Indoctrinating regular officers in modern 
methods of personnel classification. 

Organization of an Advanced 
Classification Program (Chapter 13) 

The methods used by the Navy in advanced 
classification and reclassification of enlisted 
personnel are briefly described. Five recom¬ 
mendations for improving advanced classifica¬ 
tion are offered. 

1. More extensive construction and use of 
objective methods of determining the actual 
proficiency with which a man can perform the 
duties of a particular billet. 

2. Improvement in the methods of rating 
shipboard proficiency. 

3. Use of brief oral tests, called work readi¬ 
ness tests, to determine how much a man knows 
about the details of a particular type of duty. 

4. The indoctrination of regular officers in 
the methods and information available for use 
in making shipboard assignments. 

5. Improved methods for coding and filing 
personnel data to make those data more easily 
available and more likely to be used in ship and 
shore establishments. 

14 METHODS OF TEST CONSTRUCTION 
AND VAUIDATION 

1,4,1 Construction and Standardization 
of Group Tests (Chapter 14) 

Test construction and validation are ana¬ 
lyzed in detailed outline. The first step consists 


of discovering what critical abilities or skills 
are required by the job for which the test is 
being constructed. It is further necessary to 
acquire at least a general notion of the charac¬ 
teristics of the group to whom the test will be 
given. Also, the conditions and limitations of 
the classifications program as a whole neces¬ 
sarily affect the new test and must be consid¬ 
ered in planning its details. 

After this background work is completed, 
the test itself can be written in experimental 
form. Detailed statistical analysis of the re¬ 
sponses made to each item by a sample group of 
men provides the information necessary to 
select items for the final test in terms of their 
difficulty and validity, to decide on time limits, 
to make certain that instructions are clear, and 
to arrange the items in proper order. 

1 ' 4 ' 2 Contributions to Test Administra¬ 
tion and Test Theory (Chapter 15) 

An investigation of the accuracy with which 
aptitude tests were being scored in 1942 in the 
Navy revealed frequent and large errors. Meth¬ 
ods of controlling and checking scoring pro¬ 
cedures were devised. Subsequent investiga¬ 
tions showed that errors were greatly reduced 
in frequency and in size. 

Several innovations in test construction 
practice were tried out. They included: 

1. A simple method of measuring the pre¬ 
mium which a test places on speed by compar¬ 
ing the number of testees who attempt the last 
item of the test with the number attempting the 
first one. 

2. A method of estimating the validity of a 
test for a school population without waiting for 
training and performance measures to accumu¬ 
late after giving the test. Instead of waiting, 
the test is given to a graduating class and their 
test scores are correlated with final grades. 
Simultaneous administration of the test to a 
sample of entering students provides a check 
on the accuracy of the predicted validity coeffi¬ 
cient by permitting comparison of regression 
weights for entering and graduating classes. 

3. A method for increasing the validity of a 
test by selecting items in terms of their corre- 


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THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH IN MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


7 


lation with an external criterion such as suc¬ 
cess at the school, instead of their correlation 
with the total-test score. 


15 THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH IN 
MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 

What remains to be done in the field of apti¬ 
tude testing for military use? The experience 
of the Applied Psychology Panel suggests three 
principal needs. 

1. New tests are necessary. Tests now avail¬ 
able are not uniformly satisfactory. Better 
measures of certain types of ability need to be 
developed. In addition, changing equipment 
and changing methods increase or decrease the 
importance of careful selection of different 
kinds of specialists. Selection programs must 
keep up with these changes. 

2. Psychological tests by their very nature 
require follow-up and review. They need main¬ 
tenance and recalibration just as a physical 
measuring device requires maintenance and 
recalibration. 

3. The actual usefulness of tests during 
World War II was considerably less than their 
potential usefulness. A number of administra¬ 
tive problems must be solved before the Army 
or the Navy can derive full benefit from their 
research programs on aptitude measurement 
and personnel classification. 

These points are discussed below. 


New Tests Are Necessary 

Among the more general capacities for 
which better tests are needed are emotional fit¬ 
ness for combat, vocational interests, and 
visual and auditory capacity. Tests exist in 
each of these fields, but they are less effective 
than the general classification or mechanical 
aptitude tests. 

The special abilities for which better tests 
are needed will vary from time to time depend¬ 
ing upon the types of equipment to be used and 
the methods current for their use. For example, 
there is now reason to believe that the skill of 
the operator of a fire control director is rela¬ 


tively unimportant compared with the skill of 
the maintenance man responsible for calibra¬ 
tion and alignment of the parts of the antiair¬ 
craft battery. In general, as equipment is more 
highly developed, it becomes possible to sim¬ 
plify some aspects of the operator’s task. This 
simplification is frequently made at the ex¬ 
pense of complicating the maintenance and 
calibration difficulties of the equipment. With 
such a change, a larger portion of the military 
population can serve satisfactorily as oper¬ 
ators; their selection is therefore less critical. 
But the selection of maintenance personnel be¬ 
comes more critical. 

Because equipment changes, personnel re¬ 
quirements change. Because personnel require¬ 
ments change, some tests become obsolete and 
others become necessary. New tests will be 
necessary as long as new equipment and new 
methods of warfare continue to be developed. 

In developing new tests, more attention than 
was paid in World War II should be given to 
developing tests which are statistically inde¬ 
pendent of each other. The usefulness of a test 
in military classification depends, among other 
things, on its correlation with other tests also 
being used for classification purposes. Tests 
which have low correlations with other tests in 
a battery are more valuable than tests which 
have high correlations. Enough apt men for all 
specialties can be found only by having a test 
battery which picks out the special aptitudes 
of each man and furnishes a number of scores 
each of which is relatively unaffected by gen¬ 
eral ability. 

In developing new tests, more emphasis than 
was given in World War II should be placed on 
field or combat skill as a criterion for validat¬ 
ing the tests. Even at best, school grades are 
an unsatisfactory substitute for actual perform¬ 
ance records in the validation of selection tests. 
School grades were frequently used in World 
War II because they were easily available and 
because they were more reliable than combat 
records. However, the ultimate goal of both 
selection and training is the achievement of 
highly developed combat skill. Improving the 
ability to predict that skill requires continuous 
effort to secure more reliable combat perform¬ 
ance criteria. 


RESTRICTED 



8 


SUMMARY 


15 2 Aptitude Tests Require Follow-up 
and Review 

A test, like any precision instrument, must 
be adjusted and maintained as time passes. It 
cannot ordinarily be constructed, put to use, 
and allowed to continue in use without regular 
review and adjustment. An item which is satis¬ 
factory in difficulty when most recruits are 
coming from one section of the population may 
be too easy or too hard when the source of re¬ 
cruits changes. A change in the educational 
system of the country, for example an increase 
in the number of high school graduates, may 
make a formerly satisfactory test too easy. 
Susceptibility to these influences can be mini¬ 
mized, but it cannot be avoided completely. 
Only continuous watch over the tests and peri¬ 
odic statistical analysis of the distributions of 
item difficulties, test scores, and validity coeffi¬ 
cients can keep them at maximal usefulness. 


Administrative Use of Tests 

During World War II several factors de¬ 
creased the usefulness of the information ob¬ 
tained by aptitude tests. Two deserve special 
mention: the fallibility of interviewers’ judg¬ 
ment, and ignorance regarding the usefulness 
and availability of test scores. 

Interviewers’ Judgment 

Evidence was collected at the end of World 
War II which indicated that the work of the 
classification interviewer could be modified 
with resulting increase in the value of his 
recommendations. The evidence came from a 
direct comparison of the accuracy of interview¬ 
ers in predicting training school performance 
with the accuracy of prediction based on test 
scores alone. 1 The test scores alone were clearly 
superior. The correlation between scores on a 
single test, the Mechanical Knowledge Test, 
and final grades of 3,496 men in electrician’s 
mate schools was .50; the correlation between 
interviewers’ recommendations and final 
grades of the same men in the same schools 
was .41. 

In making his recommendations the inter¬ 


viewer had the test scores. He also had a good 
deal of additional information which he himself 
had collected during the interview. He should 
have been able to make better predictions using 
all this information than was possible with the 
scores on a single test. Evidently, most inter¬ 
viewers were too much impressed with the in¬ 
formation they had secured and gave it greater 
weight than they assigned to the relatively 
more objective and reliable evidence of the test 
scores. 

Better training of interviewers, the use of 
more objective and reliable methods of secur¬ 
ing information obtained in the interview, and 
standardized weighting of the variables to be 
considered in selecting an appropriate assign¬ 
ment will make it possible for the interviewer’s 
judgment to add to, rather than subtract from, 
the value of assignment by test scores alone. 
Methods for bringing about this improvement 
are described in Chapter 11. 

Personnel Policies 

Psychological tests are relatively new. Their 
military value, however, was demonstrated in 
World War I. They were widely used in World 
War II. Nevertheless, the administration of 
personnel policies, many of which grew up 
long ago, frequently rendered the test informa¬ 
tion useless. Two illustrations may be given. 

The first illustration arises from the opera¬ 
tion of the quota system in making assign¬ 
ments. Pools of men of all kinds are maintained 
at various Army and Navy centers. As new 
ships are commissioned, as new units are acti¬ 
vated, or as new classes enter a training school, 
men are drawn from these pools. Frequently 
the pool is not tapped until a few days before 
the quota must be filled. It is then necessary to 
take the best men available at that time and 
in that pool. This sometimes means that men 
not qualified for school training must be in¬ 
cluded in order to fill the quota. Sometimes it 
means that a man highly trained in one spe¬ 
cialty must be assigned to a totally new kind of 
duty because the pool is not large enough at the 
particular moment to fill the quota appropri¬ 
ately. As a specific example, the Army assigned 
a number of college graduates who had had 
special training for radar maintenance to duty 


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THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH IN MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


9 


as truck drivers and as mess sergeants because 
there were more radar men and fewer truck 
drivers and mess sergeants than needed at that 
particular place and time. 

The dates or approximate dates of commis¬ 
sioning a new ship, activating a new unit, or 
starting a new class are usually known for at 
least some weeks in advance. It is not easy to 
work out administrative procedures which will 
take advantage of this advance knowledge to 
minimize the number of misassignments re¬ 
sulting from the quota system. But advantage 
has occasionally been taken of it, and service 
efficiency was improved as a result. 

A second illustration of failure to utilize 
carefully collected information about each 
man’s abilities comes from an old shipboard 
practice. Men are frequently assigned to their 
bunks alphabetically, and that assignment is 
naturally one of the first things done for a man 
when he comes aboard ship. On shipboard men 
must have their bunks near their battle stations 
in order to meet surprise attack promptly. The 
result is that the position of a man’s name in 
the alphabet may have more to do with deter¬ 
mining his battle station than does all the in¬ 
formation available about his abilities. 


The total effect of Administrative malprac¬ 
tice is unknown. The following quotation from 
an Army report, however, indicates that it is 
sometimes very large. “About March 1, 1945, 
the Armored Replacement Training Center 
completed training of its 150,000th replace¬ 
ment. Where these men have gone is one of the 
mysteries of the war. Certainly they have not 
gone to the units for which they were trained. 
Some units state that they have received no 
men with armored training; others comment 
upon the few that arrive.” 2 To have most of 
150,000 men, all specially trained for one type 
of duty, disappear into a variety of other 
assignments is evidence that there is still much 
to be done in the way of administration of 
sound personnel policies before maximal effect 
can be obtained from present personnel selec¬ 
tion and training programs. 

Better personnel procedures and better 
standardization of them will help overcome 
these difficulties. So will more stringent quality 
control policies. The greatest gain will be 
achieved when regular officers become as 
aware of the importance of getting the right 
man for a job as they are of getting the right 
ammunition for a gun. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 2 

THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 

By Dael Wolfle a 


Summary 

W HEN EXPANSION of the U. S. Navy began, 
it became apparent that the tests and pro¬ 
cedures being used to classify and assign en¬ 
listed personnel were out of date and inefficient. 
A Test and Research Section was established in 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel to improve the 
classification tests. At about the same time, the 
Applied Psychology Panel of NDRC was asked 
to establish a project for “Research and De¬ 
velopment of the Navy’s Aptitude Testing Pro¬ 
gram.” 

The Test and Research Section and the 
NDRC project, working in close cooperation, 
developed the U. S. Navy Basic Classification 
Test Battery. After it proved successful, two 
additional forms of the battery were prepared 
for use ashore. A fleet edition of the General 
Classification Test was also developed. 

Statistical analysis of the results of the new 
tests, in comparison with similar analyses of 
the tests in use before 1942, showed the new 
tests to be reliably superior to the old ones. 
Comparisons between test scores and grades 
made in a variety of Service schools showed 
that the tests predicted well which men would 
and which would not do well in different Serv¬ 
ice schools. 


21 INTRODUCTION 

For a number of years preceding the war 
all Navy recruits were given a set of paper-and- 
pencil tests which were intended to help in the 
selection or rejection of applicants and in the 
assignment of successful volunteers. This set 
of tests remained unchanged for many years. 
In 1942 the Navy decided that its test program 
should be brought up-to-date and that tests 


a This chapter is based primarily on the work of the 
staff of NDRC Project N-106. 


should be developed to aid in the tremendously 
increased assignment problems of a wartime 
Navy. A new and very small section was estab¬ 
lished in the Training Division, Bureau of 
Naval Personnel, for this purpose. At about the 
same time, the National Research Council’s 
Committee on Service Personnel—Selection 
and Training (which later became the Applied 
Psychology Panel) was requested to make a 
survey of the procedures used in the selection, 
classification, and training of Navy personnel 
and to submit its findings and recommenda¬ 
tions to the Bureau of Naval Personnel. The 
Bureau responded to this report 1 by an imme¬ 
diate request to OSRD to establish a project 
on “Research and Development of the Navy’s 
Aptitude Testing Program.” In response to 
this request, Project N-106 was formed under 
a contract with the College Entrance Examina¬ 
tion Board, Princeton, New Jersey. 


The Basic Classification Test 
Battery 

Through the joint and always closely co¬ 
operative work of the rapidly expanded Test 
and Research Section of the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel and Applied Psychology Panel Proj¬ 
ect N-106, there was constructed a battery of 
aptitude tests designed to improve efficiency in 
the placement of Navy recruits and to assist 
in the maximum utilization of the Navy’s man¬ 
power. These tests were collectively called the 
U. S. Navy Basic Classification Test Battery. 
The battery contains five tests printed in four 
test booklets. Those developed by the Applied 
Psychology Panel project are marked with an 
asterisk. 

*1. General Classification Test (GCT). This 
is a composite test of 100 items, divided into 
three subtests as follows: 

a. Sentence Completion subtest (30 
items, 10 minutes). 


10 


RESTRICTED 



THE OLD NAVY TEST BATTERY 


11 


b. Opposites subtest (30 items, 8 min¬ 
utes) . 

c. Analogies subtest (40 items, 15 min¬ 
utes). 

*2. Reading Test (30 items, 25 minutes). 

*3. Arithmetical Reasoning Test (AR) (30 
items, 30 minutes). (Both the Reading and 
Arithmetical Reasoning Tests are bound in the 
same booklet.) 

4. Mechanical Aptitude Test (MAT). This 
is a composite test of 129 items, divided into 
three subtests as follows: 

a. Block Counting subtest (45 items, 6 
minutes). 

b. Mechanical Comprehension subtest 
(44 items, 20 minutes). 

c. Surface Development subtest (40 
items, 8 minutes). 

5. Mechanical Knowledge Test (MKT). This 
is a composite test of 135 items, of which 60 
relate to electrical knowledge and 75 to me¬ 
chanical. Both an electrical and a mechanical 
score are obtained from the test. The total time 
allowed is 37 minutes. 

Responsibility for the construction of some 
of these tests was assigned to the project, while 
others were developed by the Bureau. Actually 
there was cooperative work on all tests. De¬ 
tailed discussions and planning by both groups 
preceded the development of all the tests. Tests 
constructed by either group were criticized by 
the other. In many respects the Applied Psy¬ 
chology Panel's project on “Research and De¬ 
velopment of the Navy Aptitude Testing Pro¬ 
gram” served as a closely integrated part of the 
Test and Research Section of the Bureau of 
Naval Personnel. 


22 THE OLD NAVY TEST BATTERY 

i 

221 Statistical Analysis of the Old 

Battery 2 ’ 4 ’ 7 * 8 

The first step in the construction of the Basic 
Classification Test Battery was a thorough 
study and statistical analysis of the tests for¬ 
merly used for recruit selection and assign¬ 
ment. 

These tests were: 

1. The O’Rourke General Classification 

Test, Junior Grade, Form C and D, 

Navy Edition. 

2. The O’Rourke Mechanical Aptitude 

Test. 

3. U. S. Navy Standard Recruit Test in 

Arithmetic. 

4. U. S. Navy Standard Recruit Test in 

English. 

5. U. S. Navy Standard Recruit Test in 

Spelling. 

6. U. S. Navy Radio Code Aptitude Test. 

The Bureau of Naval Personnel supplied the 

Applied Psychology Panel with answer sheets 
for these six tests from 43,539 recruits. The 
tests were given at all naval training stations 
which existed at that time. These stations were 
located at Great Lakes, Illinois; Newport, 
Rhode Island; San Diego, California; and Nor¬ 
folk, Virginia. All the men had been tested be¬ 
tween January and April 1942. 

A sample of these 43,539 papers was care¬ 
fully rescored by the project staff and then sub¬ 
mitted to detailed statistical analysis to de¬ 
termine the difficulty, reliability, and internal 
characteristics of the tests. Correlations with 
Service school grades were also computed to 


Table 1. Reliability coefficients of old Navy aptitude tests. 


Training Station 

GCT 
(Form B) 

GCT 
(Form C) 

Code 

Mechanical 

Aptitude 

Test 

Arithmetic 

English 

Spelling 

Newport 

.95 

.95 

* 

.94 

.89 

.91 

.94 

Norfolk 

.95 

* 

.69 

.94 

.88 

.89 

.93 

Great Lakes 

* 

.94 

.75 

.94 

.87 

.86 

.92 

San Diego 

* 

.96 

.78 

.95 

.88 

.92 

.92 

Number of items 

100 

100 

78 

162 

20 

100 

50 

Time allowed (in min) 

60 

60 


55 

25 

30 

20 


♦Information not available. 


RESTRICTED 








12 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


determine the validity of the tests. Samples of 
the papers from different naval training sta¬ 
tions were compared for the information such 
comparisons could give on the Navy population. 
This work was all done as a background for 
the development of the U. S. Navy Basic Classi¬ 
fication Test Battery and to help in the neces¬ 
sary decisions as to the length, difficulty, type 
of item, etc., which should characterize the 
tests in the new battery. 

Difficulty 4 

The frequency distributions of scores indi¬ 
cated that the General Classification, English, 
and Spelling Tests were too easy to provide the 
most efficient differentiation. The Arithmetic 
and Mechanical Aptitude Tests were of suit¬ 
able average difficulty but failed to exhibit as 
great a concentration of scores in the middle 
range as would be desirable. 

With respect to item difficulty, the ideal form 
for the distribution of the difficulty of the items 
of a general purpose test is not known exactly. 
It seemed, however, that for tests whose items 
have a comparatively high correlation with the 
total test score, a distribution of item diffi¬ 
culties should be flatter than for tests with low 
item-test correlation. This relation was not 
found to hold in the tests under investigation. 

Reliability 2 

The odd-even reliability, corrected by the 
Spearman-Brown formula, of the individual 
tests making up the old Navy Battery was 
satisfactory for all tests except the test of 
code aptitude. The reliability coefficients for 
each test as determined at the four training 
stations are presented in Table 1. 

The two parts of the Mechanical Aptitude 
Test were each reliable, but the correlation be¬ 
tween them was only about .65 to .70, which 
made questionable the desirability of combin¬ 
ing the two parts into a single test score. 

Intercorrelations 4 

The intercorrelations of five of the tests, 
omitting the Radio Code Aptitude Test, are 
given in Table 2. Some of the intercorrelations 
were high enough to suggest the desirability of 
omitting one or two of the tests. 


Item Analysis 7 

The detailed item analysis of the tests gave 
information on the usefulness of the individual 
items. 

Of the 11 different types of items contained 
in the General Classification Test, the five types 
with the highest average biserial r’s were, in 
descending order, proverbs, completion, oppo¬ 
sites, synonyms, and analogies. This finding 


Table 2. Intercorrelations of old Navy aptitude tests 
(iV = 500 for each station). 


GCT 

MAT 

Arith¬ 
metic English 

Spell¬ 

ing 

Aver¬ 

age 

GCT 






Newport 

.46 

.51 

.58 

.58 

.53 

Norfolk 

.50 

.61 

.64 

.60 

.59 

Great Lakes 

.42 

.49 

.54 

.53 

.50 

San Diego 

.63 

.56 

.69 

.66 

.64 

MAT 






Newport 


.29 

.29 

.22 

.32 

Norfolk 


.39 

.32 

.30 

.38 

Great Lakes 


.27 

.29 

.22 

.30 

San Diego 


.47 

.53 

.39 

.51 

Arithmetic 






Newport 



.46 

.44 

.43 

Norfolk 



.49 

.49 

.50 

Great Lakes 



.48 

.52 

.44 

San Diego 



.57 

.55 

.54 

English 






Newport 




.54 

.47 

Norfolk 




.55 

.50 

Great Lakes 




.56 

.47 

San Diego 




.59 

.60 

Spelling 






Newport 





.45 

Norfolk 





.49 

Great Lakes 





.46 

San Diego 





.55 


supported the view that items which definitely 
require some reflection or cogitation are, in 
general, superior to those which can be an¬ 
swered with little or no thinking. 

A careful study was made of items which 
showed exceptionally high item-test correla¬ 
tions at each station and those which showed 
exceptionally low item-test correlations. The 
detailed earmarks of good versus poor items 
were found not to be uniform from one test to 
another. It appeared that the reasons for a low 
biserial correlation with total score were gen- 


RESTRICTED 







THE OLD NAVY TEST BATTERY 


13 


erally more discernible than the reasons for a 
high correlation. For practical work in test 
construction this finding suggests that the very 
poor items of a test may often be caught and 
rejected simply by careful inspection without 
the need for an actual tryout. The opposite, 
however, was not true. No consistent charac¬ 
teristics of exceptionally good items could be 
found. Probably the most important general 
conclusion from this part of the study is that 
no prediction, however sagacious, can substi¬ 
tute adequately for the detailed quantitative 
information about an item that is yielded by 
an actual trial. The actual trial of items is espe¬ 
cially useful for detecting excessively close or 
excessively remote (nonfunctional) distractors 
and for the identification of the most effective 
items in a test. 

Validity 8 

In order to determine the validity of the tests 
comprising the old battery, the scores on each 


of the six tests were correlated with grades in 
six Service schools at the Great Lakes Naval 
Training Station. The Service schools were 
electrician’s mate, fire controlman, gunners 
mate, torpedoman, quartermaster, and signal¬ 
man. The principal results of the validity study 
were: 

1. The Service school grades used as criteria 
were highly reliable. The reliability coefficients 
varied from .93 to .97. These coefficients were 
determined by correlating the sum of the 
grades for odd-numbered weeks with the sum 
of the grades for even-numbered weeks and 
then applying the Spearman-Brown correction 
formula. 

2. The validity of the individual tests was 
generally low. Only five of the 36 validity co¬ 
efficients were as high as .29. These five were 
.54, .38, .37, .37, and .29. 

3. The General Classification Test was a 
better predictor of school grades than any of 
the more specialized tests. 


Table 3. Summary of data on validity of old Navy aptitude tests. 



Group I 

Group II 


EM 

FC 

GM 

TM 

QM 

SM 


Tests 

Corr. 

Tests 

Corr. 

Tests Corr. 

Tests 

Corr. 

Tests 

Corr. 

Tests 

Corr. 

Best single 

GCT 

.54 

Arith. 

.38 

Arith. 

.27 

MAT 

.24 

Arith. 

.27 

GCT 

.31 

test ( r) 









Spell. 

.27 



Best single 

GCT 

.72 

GCT 

.65 

Arith. 

.42 

MAT 

.28 

Arith. 

.40 

GCT 

.51 

test (r e ) 
Best single 

GCT 

.54 

Arith. 

.38 

Age 

.28 

MAT 

.24 

Arith. 

.27 

GCT 

.31 

variable ( r ) 









Spell. 

.27 



Best combi¬ 

GCT-MAT 

.55 



Arith.-GCT 

.32 



RCA-Arith. 

.34 



nation of 

GCT-Arith. 

.55 

GCT-Arith. 

.44 

Arith.-MAT 

.32 

MAT-RCA 

.26 

RCA-Spell. 

.34 

GCT-RCA 

.36 

two tests 

(R) 

GCT-Eng. 

.55 











Best combi¬ 

GCT-MAT 

.55 











nation of 

GCT-Arith. 

.55 

Arith.-Age 

.46 

GCT-Age 

.37 

MAT-Age 

.31 

Arith.-Age 

.36 

GCT-RCA 

.36 

two vari¬ 

GCT-Eng. 

.55 











ables ( R) 

GCT-Age 

.55 











Best combi¬ 

GCT 












nation of 

Eng. 

.56 











three tests 

MAT 


GCT 


GCT 


GCT 


Arith. 


GCT 


m 



Arith. 

.46 

Arith. 

.34 

MAT 

.27 

Spell. 

.38 

Spell. 

.41 


GCT 


MAT 


MAT 


RCA 


RCA 


RCA 



Eng. 

Arith 

.56 











Best combi¬ 

GCT 


GCT 


GCT 


GCT 


Arith. 


GCT 


nation of 

Eng. 

.57 

Arith. 

.51 

Arith. 

.40 

MAT 

.31 

Spell. 

.39 

Spell. 

.41 

three vari¬ 
ables ( R ) 

Age 


Age 


Age 


Age 


Age 


RCA 



RESTRICTED 















14 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


4. Best prediction was found in those schools 
which contained a large portion of academic 
work. 

5. The best combination of two tests gave 
multiple correlations which on the average 
were only .04 higher than the best single test. 

The chief statistical results of the validity 
study are summarized in Table 3. The values 
of r c in the second line of the body of this table 
are the correlations corrected for curtailment 
of the distribution of the sample studied. 

The tests included in the new Basic Aptitude 
Test Battery and in supplementary Navy tests 
contain items of every type which this validity 
study suggested might be of value. 


Table 4. Means and standard deviations of Navy apti¬ 
tude test scores for four stations (based on 43,000 cards). 


Test by stations 

Number of 

cases 

Mean 


Standard 

deviation 

GCT 

Newport 

4,858 

69.35 


14.53 

Norfolk 

11,740 

65.72 

1 

20.59 

Great Lakes 

15,878 

77.02 

H 

13.16 

San Diego 

8,489 

66.85 


17.39 

MAT 

Newport 

4,837 

46.25 

1 

15.31 

Norfolk 

10,798 

33.83 

1 

25.86 

Great Lakes 

15,650 

55.04 

H 

27.27 

San Diego 

7,866 

51.54 

3 

16.82 

Arithmetic 

Newport 

4,864 

48.17 


23.89 

Norfolk 

11,753 

44.75 

1 

26.80 

Great Lakes 

15,820 

65.03 

H 

23.45 

San Diego 

7,808 

47.83 

7 - 

25.00 

English 

Newport 

4,852 

65.81 

3 

12.63 

Norfolk 

11,752 

33.35 

> 

21.56 

Great Lakes 

15,831 

71.32 

4 

11.65 

San Diego 

7,092 

63.86 

* 

15.23 

Spelling 

Newport 

4,832 

57.13 

1 

20.57 

Norfolk 

11,739 

51.91 

l 

24.58 

Great Lakes 

15,199 

67.71 

H 

19.26 

San Diego 

7,068 

57.82 

3 

21.23 


Variability in Navy Samples 2 - 4 

Consistent differences were found in the 
average scores and in the distributions of 
scores reported from the four naval training 
stations from which answer sheets were ob¬ 


tained. On all tests the highest average scores 
were made by the recruits at the Great Lakes 
Naval Training Station. The lowest average 
scores were all made by recruits at the Norfolk 
Naval Training Station. The data are pre¬ 
sented in Table 4. 

Comparisons based on a much smaller group 
of papers, which had been very carefully re¬ 
scored by the project, showed smaller differ¬ 
ences between the four naval training stations 
but did not alter the rank order. The number 
of cases involved was from 200 to 300 for each 
test from each station. The smaller population 
was selected at random from all the papers 
available from each station. In this smaller and 
more carefully scored sample the average score 
at Norfolk was generally from one third to one 
half a standard deviation below the Great 
Lakes average. 

Discrepancies in the cards on which the 
scores were recorded and gross differences be¬ 
tween the reports coming from the different 
stations suggested that differences in examina¬ 
tion and scoring procedures were large and 
made it appear probable that testing conditions 
had sometimes departed seriously from recom¬ 
mended procedures. 


222 Revision of Mechanical Aptitude 
Test 

Upon request of the Standards and Curricu¬ 
lum Division, Bureau of Naval Personnel, de¬ 
tailed suggestions were made for the revision 
of the mechanical aptitude test then in use in 
the Navy. 5 These suggestions were accepted 
and incorporated into new forms of a mechani¬ 
cal aptitude test which the Standards and Cur¬ 
riculum Division constructed as part of the 
Basic Battery. 


23 EXPERIMENTAL TESTS 

In order to secure additional information on 
the types of tests which should be included in 
the basic classification test battery, an experi¬ 
mental battery of 11 tests was administered to 
entering classes in Gunners Mate, Fire Control- 


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CONSTRUCTION OF TESTS FOR THE NEW BATTERY 


15 


man, and Rangefinder Operator’s Schools at 
the Navy Yard, Washington, D. C. 10 The 11 
tests included a verbal test, tests of quantita¬ 
tive ability, spatial relations tests, and a test of 
mechanical aptitude. After the men had gradu¬ 
ated, their Service school grades were used as 
criteria in evaluating the 11 tests. 

As judged by predictive efficiency, the seven 
best tests turned out to be tests of arithmetical 
reasoning, arithmetical computation, vocabu¬ 
lary, mechanical comprehension, surface devel¬ 
opment, the old general classification test, and 
the old mechanical aptitude test. The new Navy 
Basic Classification Test Battery was designed 
to contain items similar to those in all these 
tests except arithmetical computation (see Sec¬ 
tion 2.4). A new test of arithmetical computa¬ 
tion was prepared later by the project (see 
Section 2.5). 


2 4 CONSTRUCTION OF TESTS FOR 
THE NEW BATTERY 

A new General Classification Test, a new 
Reading Test, and a new test of Arithmetical 
Reasoning were constructed by Applied Psychol¬ 
ogy Panel Project N-106 3 for inclusion in the 
new Basic Classification Test Battery. 

Certain specifications for these new tests 
were stated by the Bureau of Naval Personnel. 
These were: 

The general classification test was to include 
only items involving verbal ability. Types of 
items suggested were sentence completion, 
opposites, and analogies. 

A sentence completion item is a sentence 
with one word omitted; the task is to choose 
the one of several words presented which best 
fits in with all parts of the sentence. In such 
items, it should be necessary for the candidate 
to sense the implications of all parts of the 
sentence in order to choose the correct word. 
The choice should not depend simply on vo¬ 
cabulary knowledge, nor should the test meas¬ 
ure good word usage in a purely literary sense. 

An opposites item consists of a key word 
followed by several other words, one of which 
is the opposite of the key word. The task is 
simply to choose the word which means the 


opposite of the key word. Highly technical 
words were to be avoided. Words likely to occur 
in Navy manuals were recommended for use. 

An analogies' item is a statement of an an¬ 
alogy with the last word missing. The task is 
to choose, from a list of several words, the one 
which best completes the analogy. Items of this 
type should depend upon general verbal ability 
rather than upon vocabulary or special infor¬ 
mation. 

The reading test was to consist of para¬ 
graphs of increasing difficulty, each followed 
by multiple-choice questions on the content of 
the paragraph. It was suggested that the ques¬ 
tions should measure ability to draw infer¬ 
ences, to note detail, and to follow directions. 

The arithmetical reasoning test was to con¬ 
sist of verbally stated problems which involve 
ability in quantitative thinking. The statement 
of the problems should be sufficiently simple 
that reading comprehension is not an impor¬ 
tant factor and that the actual reading of the 
problems consumes a small proportion of the 
testing time. The problems should be capable 
of solution by simple arithmetic, and the com¬ 
putations should be simple enough that a rela¬ 
tively small proportion of the testing time is 
spent in actually multiplying, dividing, etc. In 
other words, half or more of the testing time 
should be spent in thinking out the method of 
solution. 

The general classification test which was 
prepared included 30 sentence completion, 30 
opposites, and 40 analogies items, making a 
total of 100 items. All were multiple-choice 
items with 5 choices. The reading test was 
made up of 6 paragraphs with an average of 
5 multiple-choice questions on each, making a 
total of 30 items. The arithmetical reasoning 
test also contained 30 five-choice items. These 
numbers were consistent with time limits sug¬ 
gested by the Bureau. The items making up 
each part were arranged in estimated order of 
difficulty. The attempt was made to make the 
range of difficulty of the items so great that the 
easiest item could be answered correctly by 
approximately 95 per cent of the recruits and 
the most difficult items could be answered cor¬ 
rectly by about 5 per cent. 

The General Classification Test, Reading 


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16 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


Test, and Test of Arithmetical Reasoning are 
reproduced in the appendix as they were 
printed by the Navy from copy prepared by 
Applied Psychology Panel Project N-106. An 
unclassified account of the preparation of the 
Basic Battery tests (Form 1) has been pub¬ 
lished by the Navy. 20 

241 Statistical Analysis of the Basic 
Battery (Form 1) 

A national sample of 400 answer sheets for 
each test in the Basic Classification Test Bat¬ 
tery (Form 1) was analyzed in detail in order 
to answer a number of questions concerning 
the characteristics of the tests making up the 
battery. The questions are of general interest 
and can appropriately be asked of any set of 
tests. Since the answers were specific to Form 
1 of the Basic Battery they are not given here 
in detail. Full information is contained in the 
original report. 14 The specific questions are 
given below. 

Internal Characteristics of a 
Good Test Battery 

1. Does each test and subtest yield a suitable 
distribution of scores? 

a. Is the range or spread of scores ade¬ 
quate? 

b. Are the distributions of scores free 
from significant skewness? 

c. Are the distributions reasonably simi¬ 
lar in shape, so that standard scores 
for different tests may be considered 
comparable in meaning? 

d. Is each test and subtest of suitable dif¬ 
ficulty (neither too easy nor too 
hard)? 

2. Are the tests adequately reliable for use 
in individual placement? 

3. Are the correlations among tests suffi¬ 
ciently low to provide measurement free from 
excessive overlapping? 

4. Are the correlations among the subtests 
of the Mechanical Aptitude Test sufficiently 
high to justify combining the subtest scores 
into a single Mechanical Aptitude Test score? 
Similarly, are the correlations among the sub¬ 
tests of the General Classification Test suffi¬ 
ciently high ? 


5. Do any of the component subtests of the 
General Classification Test or the Mechanical 
Aptitude Test have an unduly large or small 
influence in determining total-test scores? 

6. Do differences exist among the various 
tests or subtests in the premium granted for 
speed of performance? Should the time limits 
for any of the tests or subtests be changed? 

7. Concerning the individual items: 

a. Is there a proper distribution of item 
difficulty in each test or subtest? More 
specifically, is the proportion of very 
easy and very difficult items sufficiently 
low, and is the dispersion or spread of 
difficulty satisfactorily adjusted to the 
average intercorrelation among items 
in the test or subtest? 

b. Are the items in each test or subtest 
arranged in order of difficulty? 

c. Are the items within each particular 
test or subtest adequately homoge¬ 
neous—i.e., do they succeed reasonably 
well in measuring the same function? 

d. Which particular items in each test or 
subtest should be rejected or revised, 
because of lack of homogeneity with 
their fellow items ? 

e. Do the difficult items tend to reduce the 
homogeneity or internal consistency of 
any of the tests or subtests of the Basic 
Battery ? 

Characteristics of Form 1 Tests 14 

Distribution of Scores. The distributions of 
test scores for the Form 1 tests were, in gen¬ 
eral, satisfactory. Most of the tests were a little 
too difficult. One, the Surface Development sub¬ 
test of the Mechanical Aptitude Test, did not 
differentiate well among either the very high 
or the very low men. The easiest questions 
were not easy enough and the most difficult 
ones were not hard enough. In consequence, 
there was a tendency for scores to pile up at 
both ends of the distribution. Only three of the 
subtests showed any statistically significant 
degree of skewness. Likewise three departed 
from normal in terms of kurtosis; scores on the 
electrical-pictorial items showed an excessive 
peaking while the distributions for Surface 
Development and Block Counting were exces¬ 
sively flat. 


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CONSTRUCTION OF TESTS FOR THE NEW BATTERY 


17 


Reliabilities. Odd-even reliabilities, corrected 
by the Spearman-Brown formula, were as 
shown in Table 5. All reliability coefficients 

Table 5. Reliabilities of Basic Battery tests. 


General Classification Test.94 

Sentence Completion.85 

Opposites.84 

Analogies.84 

Reading.85 

Arithmetical Reasoning.83 

Mechanical Aptitude.97 

Block Counting.95 

Mechanical Comprehension.84 

Surface Development.98 

Mechanical Knowledge, Electrical.89 

Mechanical Knowledge, Mechanical.90 


were based on a random selection of 200 cases 
from the basic sample of 500. The reliability 
coefficient for the mechanical aptitude scores 
was, to some extent, spuriously high, since 
speed of performance played a considerable 
role in determining these scores, and it is well 
known that placing a premium on speed tends 
to raise the reliability coefficient obtained by 
the odd-even technique. This was particularly 
true of the Block Counting subtest of the MAT. 

Intercorrelations. The correlations among 
the 12 tests or subtests are shown in Table 6. 
Most of these correlations were satisfactory, 
but they suggested several possible revisions 
of tests or procedures. The three intercorrela¬ 
tions among the subtests of the MAT were .48, 
.51, and .60. There is an inconsistency in com¬ 


bining these into a single MAT score while re¬ 
porting separately the GCT and Reading scores 
which correlated .81 with each other. 

Speed. Several pf the tests or subtests, par¬ 
ticularly Surface Development, but also Sen¬ 
tence Completion, Arithmetical Reasoning, 
and Mechanical Comprehension, put more 
premium on speed than had originally been in¬ 
tended. Revised time limits were recommended. 
A method of measuring the premium placed on 
speed in each test is given in Section 15.3. 

Item Arrangement in Terms of Difficulty. In 
general the easy items on any test were found 
in the early part of the test and the hard items 
toward the end, but in none of the tests was 
there a smooth and gradual progression from 
easy to hard items. Rearrangement of the 
items would have improved every one of the 
tests in this respect. 

Item Difficulty and Validity. Information on 
the difficulty of each item and the biserial cor¬ 
relation of each item with the subtest of which 
it was a part are given in reference 14. 

The detailed information obtained in this 
analysis of the Form 1 tests confirmed the 
judgment of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 
which had put the tests into use as soon as they 
were prepared and without waiting for exten¬ 
sive field trials. Original preparation was based 
on an extensive background of experience in 
test construction, and it was, therefore, ex¬ 
pected that the tests would work well. When 
the statistical results became available, they 
fully justified that expectation. 


Table 6. Intercorrelations among tests* and subtestsf of Basic Battery (national sample, iV=500). 


Sent. 

ARITH. 

MECH. 

Block 

Mech. 

Surf. M.K. 

M.K. 

GCT Comp. Opp. 

Anal. READ. REAS. 

APT. 

Count. 

Comp. 

Devel. ELECT. 

MECH. 


GCT 

.89 

.90 

.90 

.81 

.69 

.60 

.46 

.57 

.48 

.53 

.49 

Sent. Comp. 


.74 

.69 

.73 

.60 

.55 

.42 

.48 

.47 

.46 

.42 

Opposites 



.71 

.73 

.61 

.47 

.38 

.46 

.36 

.48 

.46 

Analogies 




.74 

.64 

.59 

.44 

.59 

.47 

.50 

.44 

READING 





.69 

.56 

.44 

.52 

.47 

.51 

.46 

ARITH. REAS. 






.61 

.52 

.51 

.51 

.47 

.41 

MECH. APT. 







.87 

.74 

.86 

.53 

.55 

Block Count. 








.51 

.60 

.42 

.45 

Mech. Comp. 









.48 

.60 

.62 

Surf. Devel. 










.36 

.35 

M.K., ELECT. 











.78 


M.K., MECHAN. 


♦Written in CAPITAL letters. 
fWritten in small letters. 


RESTRICTED 























18 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


2 ' 4 ' 2 The Basic Classification Test 
Battery, Form 2 

When the Bureau of Naval Personnel decided 
to construct a new form of the Basic Classifica¬ 
tion Test Battery, Project N-106 was asked to 
develop new forms of the three tests which it 
had originally prepared—the General Classifi¬ 
cation Test and the tests of Reading and Arith¬ 
metical Reasoning. 11 

The procedure followed in constructing the 
Form 2 tests involved four major steps. 

1. An experimental edition of each of the 
three tests was first constructed. An effort was 
made to match the items of Form 1 in content 
and difficulty, but in order to allow some selec¬ 
tion of items each part of the experimental 
edition contained about 30 per cent more items 
than were planned for retention in the final 
edition. 

2. These experimental tests, along with 
Form 1 of the same tests, were administered 
to recruits at the U. S. Naval Training Station 
at Sampson, New York. 

3. The items of both forms of each test were 
statistically evaluated. Information gained in 
the detailed analysis of Form 1 (see Section 
2.4.1) helped here to improve Form 2. 

4. Finally, the items to be included in the 
new Form 2 of each test were selected on the 
basis of information gained in these item evalu¬ 
ations. The individual items in Form 2 of each 
test were selected on the basis of three criteria: 
(1) the difficulty of the items in each test; (2) 
the correlation with total test score; and (3) 
their comparability with the individual items 
of the Form 1 tests. 

By this procedure a second form of each test 
was constructed which contained items satis¬ 
factorily distributed in terms of difficulty, 
highly correlated with total-test or subtest 
scores, and comparable to the items in the par¬ 
allel Form 1 test. 

A more detailed description of the proce¬ 
dures used in constructing Form 2 of the U. S. 
Navy General Classification Test and the 
U. S. Navy Tests of Reading and Arithmetical 
Reasoning is contained in Chapter 14, which 
describes the test construction procedures 
recommended and used by this project. 


Form 2 of the General Classification Test, 
Reading Test, and Arithmetical Reasoning 
Test were put into regular use by the Navy as 
soon as the Form 2 tests were all completed. 
The three tests constructed by Project N-106 
are reproduced in the appendix. 

2,43 The Fleet Edition of the General 
Classification Test 

Forms 1 and 2 of each of the tests in the 
Basic Classification Test Battery were de¬ 
signed to be administered by competent classifi¬ 
cation specialists or experienced officers. Later 
it appeared desirable to have available a self- 
administering edition of the General Classifi¬ 
cation Test which could be used in the fleet 
where classification specialists and test scoring 
machines were not available. Consequently, the 
General Classification Test, Fleet Edition, was 
constructed. 12 

The item content of the Fleet Edition is 
identical with Form 1 of the GCT. (Form 1 is 
reproduced in the appendix.) The two forms 
differ in that the Fleet Edition has modified 
instructions, an overall time limit instead of 
separate time limits for the three parts, and 
does not require a separate answer sheet. 

Norms for the Fleet Edition and tables for 
converting raw scores into Navy standard 
scores (which always have a mean of 50 and a 
standard deviation of 10) were obtained by 
giving Forms 1 and 2 to one group of subjects 
and giving the Fleet Edition and Form 2 to 
another comparable group of subjects. By this 
procedure Form 2 served as a bridge connect¬ 
ing Form 1 and the Fleet Edition and made 
possible the establishment of norms and con¬ 
version tables. Direct comparison between 
Form 1 and the Fleet Edition was not possible; 
since the item content of the two was identical, 
conversion tables could not be constructed by 
giving both forms to the same group. 

2 ' 4 ' 4 Other Studies of Tests in the Basic 
Classification Test Battery 

The Bureau of Naval Personnel requested 
a statistical analysis of Form 1 of the Mechani¬ 
cal Knowledge Test, which had been con- 


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CONSTRUCTION OF TESTS FOR THE NEW BATTERY 


19 


structed in the Bureau. 9 The data available for 
analysis consisted of 230 answer sheets for the 
test, administered in April 1943, at the Bain- 
bridge Naval Training Station for purposes of 
preliminary standardization. 

The Mechanical Knowledge Test consisted 
of 135 items. Of these, 60 were designed to 
yield an electrical score and 75 to yield a 
mechanical score. Both the electrical and me¬ 
chanical scores were based on two types of 
items, pictorial and verbal. 

The reliability of the total test and the re¬ 
liability of the mechanical knowledge portion 
of the test were both found to be .91, which is 
satisfactory for individual use. The reliability 
of the electrical score was found to be .79, 
hardly satisfactory for individual prediction. 
All reliability coefficients are odd-even corre¬ 
lations corrected by the Spearman-Brown 
formula. 

The correlation between electrical and me¬ 
chanical scores, .73, was high enough to justify 
combining the two, instead of reporting sepa¬ 
rate scores on the two parts of the test. 

Differences between the electrical scores and 
mechanical scores, obtained by the men in the 
sample studied, were calculated to have a re¬ 
liability (odd-even, Spearman-Brown cor¬ 
rected) of .44. With such low reliability, dif¬ 
ferences between the two scores would have to 
be relatively large before they could be used 
with confidence in recommending a man for 
assignment to a school or billet which required 


one kind of knowledge (mechanical or elec¬ 
trical) to a considerably greater extent than it 
required the other. It was therefore recom¬ 
mended to the Bureau of, Naval Personnel that 
only differences of 11 points or more in Navy 
standard score should be given serious consid¬ 
eration in making such differential assign¬ 
ments. 

Factor Analysis of the Basic 
Classification Test Battery 6 

The Basic Classification Test Battery was 
designed to measure four types of ability: (a) 
verbal ability, by the General Classification 
Test and the Reading Test; (b) quantitative 
reasoning ability, by the Arithmetical Reason¬ 
ing Test; (c) mechanical knowledge, by the 
Mechanical Knowledge Test; and (d) aptitude 
in dealing with spatial and mechanical rela¬ 
tionships, by the Mechanical Aptitude Test. 

Method of Analysis. The method of multiple 
factor analysis is appropriate to determine how 
distinct these four kinds of ability are as meas¬ 
ured by the tests of the basic battery. Since sev¬ 
eral of the tests consisted of parts which were 
scored separately, it was possible to obtain 12 
different scores, to find the correlations among 
these 12 scores, and to analyze the intercorre¬ 
lations of the 12 scores by factorial methods. 

The different scores which were used in the 
factor analysis were: 

1. Reading = total score on the Reading 
Test. 


Table 7. Reliabilities and intercorrelations of test scores used in factor analysis of the Basic Battery. 



1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

1. Reading 

.82* 












2. Opposites 

.70 

.86* 











3. Analogies 

.73 

.72 

.88* 










4. Sent. comp. 

.68 

.70 

.69 

.85* 









5. Arith. reas. 

.69 

.61 

.68 

.61 

.86* 








6. Tool rel. 

.25 

.24 

.22 

.18 

.21 

.80* 







7. Mech. inf. 

.60 

.57 

.57 

.52 

.60 

.61 

.88* 






8. Elect, score 

.50 

.48 

.49 

.37 

.49 

• 74f 

.84f 

.84* 





9. Mech. score 

.51 

.46 

.44 

.47 

.49 

. 79 f 

.89f 

.73 

.90* 




10. Block count. 

.31 

.23 

.32 

.30 

.43 

.22 

.34 

.27 

.31 

.90* 



11. Mech. comp. 

.45 

.41 

.42 

.47 

.55 

.51 

.64 

.56 

.62 

.54 

.81* 


12. Surf, devel. 

.57 

.43 

.56 

.49 

.51 

.35 

.56 

.46 

.53 

.44 

.52 

.93* 


♦These reliabilities were used for estimating specificity but were not used in factor analysis. 
fThese correlations were not used in the factor analysis. 


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20 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


2. Opposites = score on the Opposites sub¬ 
test of the GCT. 

3. Analogies = score on the Analogies sub¬ 
test of the GCT. 


Table 8. Test projections on the centroid axes. 


Tests 

Centroid axes 


I 

II 

III 

1. Reading 

+ .804 

+ .294 

+ .051 

2. Opposites 

+ .750 

+ .364 

+ .182 

3. Analogies 

+ .794 

+ .337 

+ .040 

4. Sentence Completion 

+ .752 

+ .328 

-.056 

5. Arithmetical Reasoning 

+ .785 

+ .187 

-.142 

6. Tool relationships 

+ .479 

-.464 

+ .353 

7. Mechanical Information 

+ .795 

-.231 

+ .296 

8. Electrical score 

+ .700 

-.281 

+ .408 

9. Mechanical score 

+ .729 

-.349 

+ .284 

10. Block Counting 

+ .517 

-.246 

-.403 

11. Mechanical Comprehension 

+ .725 

-.368 

-.169 

12. Surface Development 

+ .704 

-.126 

-.050 


4. Sentence completion = score on the 
Sentence Completion subtest of the GCT. 

5. Arithmetical reasoning = score on the 
Arithmetical Reasoning Test. 

6. Tool relationships = score on the pictor¬ 
ial section of the MKT. 

7. Mechanical information = score on the 
verbal section of the MKT. 

8. Electrical score = score on the electrical 
sections of the MKT. 

9. Mechanical score = score on the mechani¬ 
cal sections of the MKT. 

10. Block counting = score on the Block 
Counting subtest of the MAT. 

11. Mechanical comprehension = score on 
the Mechanical Comprehension subtest of the 
MAT. 

12. Surface development = score on the 
Surface Development subtest of the MAT. 

Table 7 displays the correlations among these 
12 scores. This table was furnished to the proj¬ 
ect by the Bureau of Naval Personnel. 

Factorial Pattern. A centroid factor analy¬ 
sis, by the methods devised by Thurstone, gave 
the factor pattern shown in Table 8. The factor 
loadings after rotation are shown in Table 9. 

The major conclusions of the factor analysis 
study were: 

1. Three factors were found. One factor 


(Factor A) was clearly a verbal factor; the 
second (Factor B) a mechanical factor; and 
the third (Factor C) was not well defined in 
the analysis. These factors were relatively in¬ 
dependent of each other, the highest intercorre¬ 
lation (that between B and C) being .31 and 
the lowest (between A and B) being .19. 

2. Verbal ability is well represented in the 
test battery. The Reading Test, the General 
Classification Test, and the Arithmetical Rea¬ 
soning Test all represent this factor. Later 
validity studies (see Table 11 and, especially, 
Table 13) showed little consistent differential 
validity for the three tests in different Service 
schools. The possibility of pooling scores or of 
eliminating one of the tests, probably the Read¬ 
ing Test, should be considered. 

3. An independent quantitative reasoning 
factor is not represented in the Arithmetical 
Reasoning Test. Other tests of a quantitative 
reasoning type might be tried to see if they 
would give scores which are more differenti¬ 
ated from verbal ability and which also meas¬ 
ure an ability necessary for success in certain 
Service schools (see Section 2.5). 


Table 9. Factor loadings after rotation into a 
simple structure and square root of specificity of 
tests. 


Test 

Factor 

A 

Factor 

B 

Factor 

C 

Square 
root of 
speci¬ 
ficity 

1. Reading 

+-704f 

+ .078 

+ .151 

+ .28 

2. Opposites 

+ .758f 

+ .107 

-.005 

+ .36 

3. Analogies 

+ .730f 

+ .040 

+ .144 

+ .36 

4. Sentence Completion 

+ .677f 

-.032 

+ .217* 

+ .41 

5. Arithmetical Reasoning 

+ .565f 

+ .011 

+ .347* 

+ .44 

6. Tool Relationships 

-.010 

+ .692f 

-.003 

+ .48 

7. Mechanical Information 

+ .342* 

+ .592f 

+ .089 

+ .33 

8. Electrical Score 

+ .274* 

+ .674f 

-.029 

+ .32 

9. Mechanical Score 

+ .208* 

+ .642t 

+ .112 

+ .41 

10. Block Counting 

+ .011 

+ .038 

+ .614f 

+ .64 

11. Mechanical Comprehension 

+ .088 

+ .341* 

+ .517f 

+ .35 

12. Surface Development 

+ .294* 

+ .257* 

+ .332* 

+ .65 


♦Factor loadings between .20 and .35. 
fFactor loadings greater than .50. 


4. An independent mechanical ability ap¬ 
pears to be best represented by the tool rela¬ 
tionships part of the Mechanical Knowledge 
Test. The two scores now reported, electrical 


RESTRICTED 












THE ARITHMETICAL COMPUTATION TEST 


21 


and mechanical, are very highly correlated and 
have essentially the same factor composition. 
If it is desirable to distinguish electrical from 
mechanical competence, then further work is 
needed on this differentiation. It may be pos¬ 
sible, however, to emphasize the tool relation¬ 
ships section of the Mechanical Knowledge 
Test and so get a score that is relatively inde¬ 
pendent of verbal ability. 

5. The block counting and mechanical com¬ 
prehension sections of the Mechanical Aptitude 
Test have relatively high loadings on Factor 
C. The indications from the present battery are 
not very clear as to the nature of this factor. 
It may represent speed, spatial reasoning, 
quantitative reasoning, or some combination of 
these. A further investigation with additional 
tests would be necessary to determine what 
this factor represents. 


25 THE ARITHMETICAL COMPU¬ 
TATION TEST 

Construction 

Correlations between the several tests of the 
Basic Battery and the factor analysis study just 
reviewed showed the Arithmetical Reasoning 
Test to be more closely related to the General 
Classification Test than was considered desira¬ 
ble. 6 * 14 The correlations between the individual 
part scores of the GCT and the Arithmetical 
Reasoning Test (AR) were all found to be above 
.60. In view of these findings, a purer test of 
quantitative ability was requested by the Bu¬ 
reau of Naval Personnel. It was desired to have 
a test which would depend less upon verbal 
ability than the Arithmetical Reasoning Test 
apparently did, but which would measure those 
types of computational skill demanded by Serv¬ 
ice school curricula. The Arithmetical Compu¬ 
tation Test (AC) was developed to meet this 
request. 13 * 15 

The first step in the development of the new 
Arithmetical Computation Test was the con¬ 
struction of a 60-item, free answer test. 13 Prob¬ 
lems varied in difficulty from adding 56 and 25 
to multiplying 2.96 by .42%. Problems of ad¬ 
dition, subtraction, multiplication, and division 


of whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and 
mixed numbers were included. 

The first experimental form of the new test, 
Form X-l, was administered to 1,430 recruits. 
The difficulty of each item was determined and 
used as a basis for selecting the items to be 
included in the second experimental form, Form 
X-2. The wrong answers most frequently given 
in answering the questions on Form X-l were 
used as distractors in Form X-2. 

Form X-2 consisted of 50 multiple-choice 
items. Six, seven, or eight alternative answers 
were supplied for each item. To prevent the 
men from choosing an approximate answer 
without working the problem through to a 
solution, the alternative “Answer not given” 
was included for each item; for seven items it 
was the correct alternative. 

Form X-2 was administered to over 1,000 
recruits at two Naval Training Stations. A 
sample of 500 papers, half from each station, 
was analyzed to determine the difficulty and the 
discriminative value of each item. 

Form X-2 was found to have a very good 
distribution of item difficulties. No item was 
answered correctly by less than 20 per cent 
or more than 90 per cent of the group. The 
median was 61 per cent and there was a piling 
up of items in the 60 to 70 per cent range. This 
is a desirable feature since it represents a 
concentration of items where they can make 
the greatest discrimination. 

The discriminative value of the items in 
Form X-2 was very high. The median biserial 
correlation with total-test score was .695. 

The Arithmetical Computation Test, Form 1, 
the final form of the test, was constructed on 
the basis of the information gained in the 
analysis of Form X-2. It contains 30 items dis¬ 
tributed nearly evenly (6 or 7 each) over the 
4 fundamental processes of arithmetic. Nine 
involve whole numbers; 11, fractions; 6, deci¬ 
mals, and 1 both fractions and decimals. There 
are also 3 problems on percentages. 

The difficulty range is from 28 to 87 per cent 
correct for 29 of the items. One very easy item 
was added at the start of the test. The biserial 
correlations with total score range from .40 to 
.84 with a median of .74. 

Five alternatives were chosen for each item. 


RESTRICTED 



22 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


These were, generally, those most frequently 
selected by the group taking Form X-2. The 
distractors used on the final form were those 
chosen by men who made a lower total score in 
Form X-2 than the men choosing the correct 
alternative. “Answer not given” was included 
as an alternative for each item. 

The odd-even, and Spearman-Brown cor¬ 
rected, reliability of the final 30-item test, esti¬ 
mated from the data collected on Form X-2, 
was .92. 


2 52 Validation 

A preliminary study 13 of the validity of the 
Arithmetical Computation Test for predicting 
grades in a number of different types of Service 
schools was made by correlating the scores of 
men who took the test at the time of their 
graduation from Service school with their Serv¬ 
ice school grades. The twelve validity coeffi¬ 
cients for the Arithmetical Computation Test 
were found to range from .33 in aviation metal- 
smith school to .69 in basic engineering school. 
In six of the ten schools where comparisons 
could be made, the test had a validity which 
was as high as, or higher than, any other single 
Basic Battery test. Such validity coefficients 
indicate that the Arithmetical Computation 
Test is a good test if the assumption is correct 
that the training received in school prior to the 
test administration does not have a differential 
effect on performance. Evidence obtained later 
indicated that this assumption was correct. 
The evidence also indicated that, although the 
superiority of the AC over the other tests was 
not as great as was first reported, the AC 
showed a higher median validity coefficient 
(.43) than any test in the battery. 15 

The Arithmetical Computation Test was 
found to have high reliability and satisfactory 
validity. For a number of Service schools it 
proved to be more valid than any test in the 
Basic Battery. Yet it failed to achieve the orig¬ 
inal purpose of developing a valid test which 
would show appreciably lower correlations with 
the verbal tests of the Basic Battery than did 
the Arithmetical Reasoning Test. The correla¬ 
tions of Form X-2 with the GCT and the Arith¬ 


metical Reasoning Test for a recruit sample are 
shown in Table 10. The correlations would un¬ 
doubtedly be considerably lower for a sample 
of Service school men than for this sample of 
recruits. Nevertheless the correlation with GCT 
was disappointingly high. 


Table 10. Intercorrelations of GCT, AR, and AC tests. 



GCT 

AR 

Test 

(Form 2) 

(Form 2) 

AC (Form X-2) 

.758 

.782 

GCT (Form 2) 


.820 


In constructing the AC test a very careful 
attempt was made to prepare a test which 
would not show a high correlation with verbal 
tests. The failure of this attempt suggests that 
it may be impossible to construct a computation 
test which will not be correlated with verbal 
measures when a wide range of talent is repre¬ 
sented in the sample. 


2 5 3 Use of AC Test 

The new AC Test could be used in any one of 
four ways: (1) it might be substituted for the 
AR and thus become part of the Basic Battery; 
(2) the AR could be retained and scores on 
both arithmetic tests reported; (3) the AR and 
AC might both be used, but only the sum of the 
two scores reported; or (4) the AC could be 
used as a preliminary screening test and a more 
difficult arithmetical reasoning test be used as 
part of a battery of secondary tests. 

The fourth possibility was recommended to 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel. If a secondary 
testing program should be instituted, the AC 
might well be used as a part of the primary 
testing battery; and the AR, in a more difficult 
form, in the secondary battery. Because of its 
high correlation with GCT, the AC Test could 
be incorporated into the General Classification 
Test and thus become a part of a general ability 
measure. (Chapter 12 contains a discussion of 
the possible advantages of using both a pre¬ 
liminary screening battery of tests and a sec¬ 
ond battery for use in making assignments to 
individual schools or billets.) 


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GENERAL APPRAISAL OF THE BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


23 


26 GENERAL APPRAISAL OF THE 

BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 

261 Abilities Measured by the 

Basic Battery 

In developing the tests of the Basic Classi¬ 
fication Test Battery, the Standards and Cur¬ 
riculum Division of the Bureau of Naval Per¬ 
sonnel and the Applied Psychology Panel agreed 
on three major areas of human ability to be in¬ 
cluded—verbal ability, mechanical ability, and 
quantitative ability. The influence of the ex¬ 
tensive literature on factor analysis and the 
identification of the factors which together con¬ 
stitute intelligence and learning ability is obvi¬ 
ous in this decision. 

The attempt to measure three reasonably 
independent factors with the five tests of the 
Basic Battery was not very successful. The 
verbal factor was well covered by the GCT and 
Reading Tests and also by the Arithmetical 
Reasoning Test. A separate quantitative factor 
simply did not appear in the factor analysis of 
the total battery. A mechanical ability factor 
appeared to be measured by the battery but 


Usefulness of the Basic 
Battery Tests 

In terms of practical usefulness, the new 
battery worked well. The tests were of satis¬ 
factory reliability. Even against grades assigned 
in the usual not very systematic manner by a 
diverse group of instructors in class A Service 
schools, validity coefficients of .50 to .60 were 
frequently found for individual tests of the 
battery. 

Table ll 18 shows the mean correlation be¬ 
tween each test in Form 1 of the Basic Battery 
and the final grades achieved by men in 13 types 
of class A schools. The number of men in each 
group is also shown. The correlations in the 
table are those that might be expected if a ran¬ 
dom sample of recruits were assigned to the 
schools. These correlations were obtained by 
correcting the original r’s for the homogeneity 
of the sample. 17 Mean correlations were com¬ 
puted by transmuting each corrected r to z 
and weighting on the basis of N. Part of the 
material contained in Table 11, together with 
a somewhat fuller discussion of the validity 
data, may be found in reference 21. 


Table 11. Mean correlations between scores on the Basic Battery tests, Form 1, and final grades in thirteen ele¬ 
mentary Service schools (correlations corrected for curtailment in range of talent). 


m ( 8 ) 

Total Tests of the Basic Test Battery Multi- Addi- 


Class A school 

number 
of cases 

(1) 

GCT 

(2) 

READ 

(3) 

ARI 

(4) 

MAT 

(5) (6) 

MK(M) MK(E) 

Best test 
combination 

pie 

corr. 

tive 

corr. 

Aviation ordnancemen 

184 

.63 

.59 

.59 

.54 

.35 

.42 

GCT & ARI 

.66 

.66 

Basic engineering 

1,480 

.52 

.52 

.63 

.52 

.46 

.39 

ARI & MK(M) 

.66 

.63 

Diesel (MoMM) 

2,160 

.42 

.35 

.36 

.26 

.43 

.46 

GCT & MK(E) 

.53 

.51 

Electrical 

1,747 

.52 

.52 

.59 

.44 

.35 

.49 

ARI & MK(E) 

.63 

.63 

Fire control man 

198 

.52 

.56 

.49 

.36 

.18 

.07 

GCT & READ 

.58 

.58 

Gunners mate 

1,677 

.38 

.39 

.31 

.28 

.40 

.43 

READ & MK(E) 

.49 

.47 

Hospital corps 

449 

.50 

.45 

.36 

.27 

.22 

.30 

GCT & READ 

.51 

.51 

Machinist mates 

755 

.33 

.27 

.44 

.48 

.48 

.45 

MAT & MK(E) 

.54 

.53 

Radar operators 

1,053 

.60 

.67 

.61 

.50 

.35 

.38 

READ & ARI 

.70 

.70 

Signal 

984 

.49 

.43 

.44 

.25 

.13 

.13 

GCT & ARI 

.52 

.50 

Storekeeper (WR) 

678 

.44 

.47 

.59 

.37 



READ & ARI 

.60 

.58 

Torpedoman 

880 

.32 

.35 

.28 

.27 

.39 

.35 

READ & ARI 

.44 

.43 

Yeoman (WR) 

738 

.62 

.59 

.63 

.38 



GCT & ARI 

.67 

.67 


less efficiently than was originally hoped. An 
unplanned factor, not completely clear but pos¬ 
sibly measuring ability to handle problems of 
spatial relations, also appeared in the factor 
analysis of the battery (see Section 2.4.4). 


Table 11 also shows the pair of tests which, 
in combination, served most efficiently to pre¬ 
dict grades in each class A school, the multiple 
correlation based on those two tests, and their 
additive correlation. The additive correlations 


RESTRICTED 







24 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


were obtained by adding the Navy standard 
scores on the two tests and correlating their 
sum with school grades. These additive corre¬ 
lations are much easier to compute than are 
multiple correlations and, for these data, were 
never more than .03 smaller than the corre¬ 
sponding multiple correlation. When the pre¬ 
diction tests are highly correlated with each 
other, it may always be true that additive cor¬ 
relations of this type will be as satisfactory as 
multiple correlations. The method is worth more 
extensive trial. 

The tests of the Basic Battery (Form 1) 
were also found useful in predicting success in 
more advanced, class B, schools. The correla¬ 
tions between the tests and the final average 
course grades achieved by two samples of men 
enrolled in the class B Gunners Mate School, 
Washington Navy Yard, are shown in Table 
12. 19 

Table 12. Correlations between Basic Battery 
test scores, Form 2, and average grades in class B 
Gunners Mate School, Washington Navy Yard. 


Correlations with grades 
Sample 1, Sample 2, 

Test and subtest iV = 84 N=163 


General classification test 

.51 

.55 

Sentence completion 

.34 

.51 

Opposites 

.33 

.42 

Analogies 

.51 

.54 

Reading 

.47 

.63 

Arithmetical reasoning 

.37 

.46 

Mechanical aptitude 

.58 

.51 

Block counting 

.37 

.38 

Surface development 

.51 

.52 

Mechanical comprehension 

.52 

.46 

Mechanical knowledge (mechanical) 

.53 

.44 

Tool relationships 

.40 

.23 

Information 

.50 

.47 

Mechanical knowledge (electrical) 

.51 

.48 

Tool relationships 

.43 

.30 

Information 

.40 

.49 

Average of reading and mechanical 
aptitude tests 


.68 


Table 13 gives for Form 2 validity informa¬ 
tion similar to that presented in Table 11 for 
Form 1. The correlations in Tables 11 and 13 
have been corrected for the curtailed range of 
talent in the sample studied. 17 

During the interval between the introduction 
of Form 1 and Form 2 of these tests much 


effort went into the improvement of Service 
school grades. Particular attention was paid to 
developing school examinations which placed 
greater emphasis on ability to perform and less 
on verbal memory. One important result of this 
work shows up in comparing the correlations 
presented in Tables 11 and 13. In general, the 
correlations of GCT, Reading, and AR with 
grades in Service schools giving mechanical and 
electrical training were lower for Form 2 than 
for Form 1. In contrast, the correlations of 
MAT and MKT with grades were higher for 
Form 2 than for Form 1. This result indicates 
that the mechanical tests (MAT and MKT) 
served as better predictors of school grades 
after those grades were made more dependent 
on ability to perform and less on verbal knowl¬ 
edge. 

The data summarized in Tables 11, 12, and 
13 indicate very satisfactory validity for the 
Basic Battery tests. These results, the Navy 
reports, “fully justify the important place the 
tests have had in the wartime classification 
program.” 18 


27 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE 
WORK 

Future work on the development of tests for 
the initial classification of military personnel 
can be recommended along two lines. 


271 Better Criteria 

Of greatest importance is the development 
of better criteria for evaluating selection tests. 
These criteria should be of two types—those 
from Service schools and those from actual 
operating performance. The introduction of 
standardized achievement tests into Service 
schools (see Applied Psychology Panel, Volume 
2, Chapter 17) provides much better school 
criteria. With improved criteria it becomes pos¬ 
sible to determine, much more certainly than 
one can with poor criteria, which tests are 
working most efficiently, which should be re¬ 
placed or revised, how they should be revised, 
etc. The general problems of securing useful 


RESTRICTED 







RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK 


25 


criteria are discussed in Chapter 17 in Volume 
2 of this series. 


Special Ability Tests 

The success of a military classification pro¬ 
gram depends upon the accuracy with which 
many different types of ability can be meas- 


picks good radio operators and leaves the men 
who are good in other respects, but poor in code 
ability, for assignment to other types of duty. 

The SOR test (see Chapter 6), the tests for 
radar operators (Chapter 7), stereoscopic vis¬ 
ual tests (Chapter 8), night vision tests (Chap¬ 
ter 9), and the Telephone Talker Test (Chapter 
10) were all attempts, not always successful 
attempts, to measure specialized aspects of 


Table 13. Mean correlations between scores on the Basic Battery tests, Form 2, and final grades in twelve elemen¬ 
tary Service schools (correlations corrected for curtailment in range of talent). 


School 

GCT 

Read. 

Arith. 

MAT 

MK(M) 

MK(E) 

N 

No. of 
school 
classes 

Aviation machinist mate 

.440 

.315 

.305 

.485 

.645 

.560 

750 

5 

Aviation ordnanceman 

.535 

.390 

.350 

.285 

.355 

.490 

805 

5 

Basic engineering 

.580 

.425 

.505 

.525 

.620 

.505 

1,176 

5 

Electrical 

.475 

.370 

.490 

.475 

.365 

.615 

1,062 

16 

Fire controlman 

.580 

.455 

.495 

.340 

.345 

.545 

432 

5 

Gunners mate 

.380 

.325 

.310 

.495 

.560 

.545 

809 

15 

Quartermaster 

.535 

.485 

.460 

.320 

.205 

.270 

470 

12 

Radioman 

.270 

.255 

.270 

.165 

.195 

.235 

1,012 

16 

Storekeeper 

.590 

.415 

.500 

.265 

.095 

.310 

541 

5 

Torpedoman 

.290 

.255 

.245 

.330 

.540 

.390 

786 

9 

Yeoman 

.630 

.445 

.460 

.285 

.485 

.220 

857 

8 

Signalman 

.430 

.343 

.406 

.360 

.245 

.345 

864 

11 


ured. Ideally, each man should be assigned, 
within the limits of military requirements, to 
the work he can do best. Tests which are gen¬ 
eral in nature, e.g., GCT and MAT, are only 
partially successful in this respect. They do a 
good job of picking out the generally good men, 
those who learn easily and who will be success¬ 
ful in any one of a variety of jobs. But which 
school, or which billet, is best for each man 
depends upon his special combination of abili¬ 
ties. Measuring these special abilities requires 
specialized tests. The Speed of Response Test 
(SOR) (see Chapter 6) for selecting radio code 
operators is a good example of the type needed. 

Good special ability tests will frequently 
make possible a more equitable distribution of 
manpower among the various military special¬ 
ties than can be accomplished with general 
tests such as the GCT. The SOR, for example, 
selects the best prospective radio operators. 
But since scores on the SOR are not highly cor¬ 
related with scores on the GCT, it does not 
select the men with highest general ability. It 


man’s ability—special abilities needed for suc¬ 
cessful performance in particular military jobs. 

Most of these tests differ from the GCT and 
MAT type of test in that they require some kind 
of performance other than the writing down 
of answers to questions. In the SOR, one learns 
three characters of the radio code. In the Tele¬ 
phone Talker Test one speaks over a sound- 
powered phone. Tests of this type are called 
performance tests. Where they duplicate, in 
miniature, the work situation for which men 
are being selected, they are called work-sample 
tests. 

Special ability tests are not necessarily per¬ 
formance or work-sample tests, but some of the 
best ones probably will be. Whether a particular 
ability can be better measured by a perform¬ 
ance test or by a paper-and-pencil test is rela¬ 
tively unimportant. The reliable measurement 
of a number of special abilities is the important 
need. Thorough research studies to develop 
such tests are strongly recommended. 

With better criteria to use in validating tests, 


RESTRICTED 







26 


THE UNITED STATES NAVY BASIC CLASSIFICATION TEST BATTERY 


and with better and more diverse measures of 
specialized abilities, better classification bat¬ 
teries can be constructed. It will then be pos¬ 
sible to assign each man to the particular job 
for which he is best suited, with fewer errors 
and less difficulty than were experienced in 
World War II. 

It is important to develop better classification 
batteries. A future war would be even more 
technically complicated than was the last one; 


it would require attaining an even closer ap¬ 
proximation to the maximum usage of the best 
abilities of every single person involved, citizen 
and soldier alike. The development of these im¬ 
provements takes time. We cannot wait, as we 
did in World War II, for war to break out be¬ 
fore starting to improve military classification 
tests. They must be developed and experience 
must be gained in their use, during years of 
peace. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 3 

THE SELECTION OF OFFICERS 

By Dael Wolfle a 


Summary 

T he principal undertaking of the Applied 
Psychology Panel in the field of officer selec¬ 
tion was the development of the U. S. Navy 
Officer Qualification Test. This test was devel¬ 
oped for use by the Offices of Naval Officer 
Procurement (ONOP’s) in appraising the qual¬ 
ifications of men applying for naval commis¬ 
sions. After Form 1 was developed, put into 
use, and subjected to a detailed statistical 
analysis, Forms 2 and 3 were developed. They 
were used in the ONOP’s until the end of the 
war. 

Several studies dealt with the selection of 
officers for special types of duty. Tests devel¬ 
oped for radar operators were used in selecting 
tactical radar officers. The NROTC Selection 
Test was analyzed, and recommendations for 
its improvement were made to BuPers. The 
value of various factors in predicting the suc¬ 
cess of amphibious flotilla and group command¬ 
ers was investigated. 

A study of combat leadership of infantry 
officers revealed positive relations of some pre¬ 
dictive value with age and with leadership 
ratings given while at OCS. 


31 PREPARATION OF U. S. NAVY 
OFFICER QUALIFICATION TEST 

When the Committee on Service Personnel— 
Selection and Training (which later became 
the Applied Psychology Panel) was organized 
in the summer of 1942, the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel requested a test which could be used 
to select those officer applicants who had the 
ability to complete Navy officer training courses 
satisfactorily. The request specified that the 
test should be short enough so that it normally 

a This chapter is based on the work of several of the 
Applied Psychology Panel projects, chiefly Project 
N-106. 


would be completed in about 45 minutes. It was 
required, however, to be a power test, and the 
candidates were to be allowed approximately 
an hour and a half to work on the test if they 
wished. In fulfillment of this request, Project 
N-106, College Entrance Examination Board, 
prepared three forms of the U. S. Navy Officer 
Qualification Test (OQT). 


311 Construction 

The content of the Officer Qualification Test 
(OQT) was of three kinds. Each was included 
in an effort to measure an ability important in 
passing an officers’ training course. Because one 
essential qualification for success in officers’ 
training schools is facility in dealing with ver¬ 
bal material, a vocabulary test was included. 
Because a modern Navy is highly mechanized, 
a mechanical comprehension test was included 
in which the problems were presented pictori- 
ally. Because quantitative work and training in 
mathematics are emphasized in the Navy, the 
third part of the test consisted of arithmetical 
reasoning problems that involved no formal 
knowledge of college mathematics. Part One of 
the experimental form, on vocabulary, con¬ 
tained 60 items; Part Two, on mechanical com¬ 
prehension, contained 30 items; Part Three, on 
arithmetical reasoning, contained 25 problems. 

The experimental form of the test (called the 
U. S. Navy Selective Examination, 0-1) was 
tried out at the New York Office of Naval Offi¬ 
cer Procurement (ONOP). 1 A sample of 500 
papers was obtained for use in item analysis 
and statistical study designed to aid in the pro¬ 
duction of the final form of the test. 

The odd-even reliabilities of total scores on 
Form O-l and of scores on its separate parts 
are shown in Table 1. The intercorrelations of 
the subtests and the total test are shown in 
Table 2. 

The total test and the Opposites subtest both 


RESTRICTED 


27 



28 


THE SELECTION OF OFFICERS 


showed satisfactory reliability. Reliability of 
the Mechanical Comprehension subtest was too 
low to be satisfactory. For Arithmetical Rea¬ 
soning the reliability was borderline. In select¬ 
ing items for OQT, Form 1, efforts were made 


Table 1. Reliability coefficients for the Selective 
Examination, 0-1. 


Opposites 

.94 

Mechanical Comprehension 

.73 

Arithmetical Reasoning 

.87 

Total test 

.93 


to increase the reliability of both of these latter 
subtests. 

The intercorrelations presented in Table 2 
were all satisfactorily low except the one be¬ 
tween Mechanical Comprehension and Arith¬ 
metical Reasoning, and this correlation turned 


Table 2. Intercorrelations of parts of the Selec¬ 
tive Examination, 0-1. 



Mechanical 

Compre¬ 

hension 

Arithmeti¬ 
cal Rea¬ 
soning 

Total 

test 

Opposites 

.28 

.42 

.90 

Mechanical 




Comprehension 


.56 

.62 

Arithmetical 




Reasoning 



.72 


out to be substantially reduced in Form 1 of 
the OQT. 7 

Items to be included in Form 1 of the OQT 
were selected on the basis of detailed item 
analysis data of the type described in Chapter 
14. For each item, both difficulty and correla¬ 
tion with total score on the appropriate subtest 
were considered. 

Fifty items were selected for the Opposites 
subtest. All had item-test biserial correlations 
of .45 or higher. The Arithmetical Reasoning 
subtest was reduced from 25 to 20 items. All 
those included had item-test correlations of .50 
or higher. 

Form 0-1 included 18 mechanical compre¬ 
hension subtest items which had been borrowed 
from the Psychological Corporation. It was de¬ 
cided not to use these in Form 1. Of the 12 
original mechanical comprehension items, only 
8 had item-test correlations of .35 or higher. 


These were reused, and 22 new items were 
constructed for this subtest. 

The U. S. Navy Officer Qualification Test, 
Form 1 is reproduced in the appendix. It con¬ 
sists of 100 items divided as follows: 50 oppo¬ 
sites, 30 mechanical comprehension, and 20 
arithmetical reasoning. It was designed to be 
self-administered and to be completed within 
one hour. The test in this form was turned over 
to the Navy and used at ONOP’s 3 until it was 
replaced by later forms of the test. 


3,1,2 Preparation of Norms 

A sample of 4,857 tests administered to men 
at the various ONOP’s during the two-week 
period ending February 20, 1943, and a similar 
sample of 5,365 papers from women candidates 
provided a basis for the preparation of norms 
for the OQT, Form 1. Separate norms for men 
and women were furnished to the Bureau of 
Naval Personnel. 4 ’ G 


3,1,3 Statistical Analysis 

The experimental population used in devel¬ 
oping Form 1 of the OQT came entirely from 
the New York ONOP. Since this regional sam¬ 
ple might not fairly represent the whole nation¬ 
wide population of officer candidates, an ex¬ 
amination of this point was called for. Analysis 
of Form 1 on a new sample of 500 cases from 
the New York ONOP and a sample of 500 from 
various ONOP’s throughout the United States 
gave evidence that the difficulty values of the 
separate items remained satisfactorily constant 
and that they provided a satisfactory range of 
item difficulty for the national population of 
officer candidates. 7 

The biserial correlations between the indi¬ 
vidual items and the total scores on the ap¬ 
propriate parts of the examination were found 
to be satisfactorily high for the opposites and 
arithmetical reasoning portions of the tests. 
For the mechanical comprehension portion 
these correlations were somewhat lower on the 
new sample than they had been on the original 
sample. In general, however, the correlations 


RESTRICTED 










PREPARATION OF U. S. NAVY OFFICER QUALIFICATION TEST 


29 


showed only small differences when computed 
for the United States and the New York sam¬ 
ples. 

The odd-even reliability of the total test, and 
of its parts, and the correlations between parts 
remained essentially the same as those deter¬ 
mined in the original development of the test. 
These data are found in Tables 3 and 4. Com¬ 
parison of the correlations in Table 3 with those 


Table 3. Reliabilities of subtests of OQT, Form 1. 



r 

2r 

1+r 

N.Y. 

U.S. 

N.Y. 

U.S. 

Opposites 

.87 

.85 

.93 

.92 

Mech. Comp. 

.47 

.45 

.64 

.62 

Arith. Reas. 

.76 

.75 

.86 

.86 

Total test 

.87 

.82 

.93 

.90 


in Table 1 shows practically no change in the 
reliability of opposites and total-test scores. 
The reliability of arithmetical reasoning scores 
also remained unchanged. An effort had been 
made to increase this correlation, but at the 
same time the number of items was reduced 
from 25 to 20. The result was a test 20 per cent 


sponding figures for the experimental version, 
0-1 (compare Table 4 with Table 2). 

In constructing the OQT, which was to be 
used throughout' the United States, the method 
used was to administer the test in experimental 
form to a regional sample, analyze it, and 
choose items for the standard test on the basis 
of the analysis. The findings summarized above 
indicated that this method was satisfactory in 
the development of Form 1 of the OQT. The 
method is not, however, recommended for gen¬ 
eral use. Ordinarily it will be safer to use a 
sample of the total population for which the 
test is intended. 


3,1,4 Preparation of OQT, Forms 2 and 3 7 

The OQT, Form 1 was placed in general use 
early in 1943, without time for careful prelim¬ 
inary standardization and validation. The Bu¬ 
reau of Naval Personnel then asked the Applied 
Psychology Panel to construct two new forms 
which could be more carefully standardized 
and which could replace Form 1. The Bureau 
desired these two forms to be composed of 
items with similar difficulty distributions and 
similar distributions of correlations with total- 
test score. Items from Form 1 might be reused 


Table 4. Intercorrelations of subtests of OQT, Form 1. 



Opposites 

Mech. Comp. 

Arith. Reas. 

Total test 


N.Y. 

U.S. 

N.Y. 

U.S. 

N.Y. 

U.S. 

N.Y. 

U.S. 

Opposites 



.23 

.16 

.42 

.36 

.91 

.90 

Mech. Comp. 





.47 

.38 

.55 

.50 

Arith. Reas. 







.70 

.66 

Mean 

27.77 

25.73 

15.98 

16.43 

10.23 

10.42 

53.99 

52.49 

<T 

10.83 

10.46 

3.73 

3.73 

4.19 

4.03 

14.82 

13.93 


shorter and equally reliable. Reliability of me¬ 
chanical comprehension scores dropped from 
an unsatisfactory .73 to an even more unsatis¬ 
factory .62, perhaps because of the necessity of 
including many new and untried items. 

Correlations between parts of the tests were 
satisfactorily low, lower in fact than the corre- 


in Forms 2 and 3. The two new forms were, if 
possible, to be equated both for men and for 
women. Forms 2 and 3 were to contain the 
same number and types of items as Form 1 
but were not necessarily to be equivalent to 
Form 1 in score distribution. 

An experimental form of the OQT (Form 


RESTRICTED 


























30 


THE SELECTION OF OFFICERS 


0-2), from which items for both Forms 2 and 3 
were to be drawn, was developed. This experi¬ 
mental form was administered to about 400 
officers at the Naval Training School (Indoc¬ 
trination) at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New 
Hampshire, and to about 400 women at the 
Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School (WR), 
Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. 
Detailed item analyses were conducted sepa¬ 
rately for the papers from these two groups. 

Items were selected for OQT, Forms 2 and 3 
on the basis of the following criteria: 7 

1. High correlation between item and total 
score on the part of the test containing that 
item. 

2. Item difficulties distributed continuously 
throughout the range of about .05 to .95 with 
the greatest concentration near the middle of 
the distribution. 

3. Availability of pairs of items having simi¬ 
lar difficulty and item-test correlation. One of 
each pair was included in Form 2, the other in 
Form 3. 

The application of these criteria of item se¬ 
lection made it possible to construct two forms 
of the tests which were equivalent in difficulty 
and (odd-even) reliability both for men and 
for women. The two tests (OQT, Form 2 and 
OQT, Form 3) are reproduced in the appendix. 


Validity 7 

The validity of the OQT, Forms 2 and 3, was 
studied by determining the correlations of test 
scores with training school grades at the Naval 
Training School (Indoctrination), Dartmouth 
College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and at the 
Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School (WR), 
Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. 

At Dartmouth grades were available for 
three courses, seamanship, ordnance, and navi¬ 
gation. In addition there was available for each 
man a rating known as the Officer’s Aptitude 
Rating. This rating was based on judgments 
made by the instructors as to each man’s poten¬ 
tial officer qualifications. It was possible to 
compute reliability coefficients for grades in 
seamanship and ordnance by correlating the 
sums of grades received in odd-numbered weeks 


with the sums of grades received in even-num¬ 
bered weeks, and then correcting by the Spear¬ 
man-Brown formula. The reliabilities varied 
from .75 to .92. The detailed grades necessary 
for the computation of a reliability coefficient 
were not available for navigation nor for the 
Officer’s Aptitude Rating. 

Correlations between the three forms of the 
OQT and the grades for two classes at Dart¬ 
mouth are presented in Table 5. The correlation 

Table 5. Correlations of OQT with grades in NTSch 

(Indoctrination), Dartmouth College. 

Class 6 Class 7 

iV = 360 jV = 403 


OQT Final 



Form 

Class 

Sea. 

Ord. 

Nav. 

Apt. average 

Opp. 

1 

6 

.32 

.33 

.26 

.17 

.37 

2 

7 

.37 

.25 

.35 

.02* 

.36 


3 

7 

.38 

.27 

.34 

.03* 

.36 

Mech. Comp. 

1 

6 

.20 

.29 

.29 

.17 

.33 

2 

7 

.28 

.28 

.36 

.10* 

.35 


3 

7 

.32 

.30 

.38 

.12* 

.38 

Arith Reas. 

1 

6 

.39 

.29 

.52 

.10* 

.49 


2 

7 

.34 

.24 

.51 

.09* 

.41 


3 

7 

.36 

.31 

.53 

.13 

.46 

Total test 

1 

6 

.41 

.42 

.42 

.21 

.51 


2 

7 

.45 

.34 

.51 

.07* 

.48 


3 

7 

.47 

.37 

.50 

.09* 

.50 

Mean 

a 


6 

7 

6 

7 

3.34 

3.36 

.27 

.30 

3.35 

3.38 

.21 

.23 

3.19 

3.12 

.32 

.31 

3.20 ; 
3.23 ; 

.16 

.18 

3.26 

3.27 

.18 

.20 


*Not significantly different from zero at the 1% level. 


of about .50 between total-test score and final 
average grade was high enough to justify using 
the OQT as an important element in the selec¬ 
tion of officer candidates. The consistency of 
the correlations with final average grades for 
the two forms of the test and for different 
classes (r’s of .51, .48, and .50) indicated that 
the two forms were equivalent and that their 
usefulness in selecting prospective officers was 
stable and consistent. 

At Smith College each student took either 
Basic Indoctrination and Communications or 
Basic Indoctrination and Advanced Indoctrina¬ 
tion. These three courses included four subjects 
each as shown in the following outline: 


RESTRICTED 








PREPARATION OF U. S. NAVY OFFICER QUALIFICATION TEST 


Basic Indoctrination: (1) Organization, 
Naval Law, and Naval Correspondence; (2) 
Personnel; (3) History and Strategy; (4) Ships 
and Aircraft. 

Advanced Indoctrination: (1) Organization 
and Communications; (2) Personnel; (3) His- 

Table 6. Correlations of OQT with grades at Naval 

Reserve Midshipmen’s School (WR), Smith College, 


Company 1 Company 2 Company 6 

N= 152 N = 160 TV = 115 








Final 


OQT 




Adv. 

weighted 


Form 

Co. 

Indoc. 

Comm. Indoc. 

average 



1 

.33 

.08* 


.20* 


2 

2 

.40 

.24 


.31 

Opposites 


6 

.27 


.30 

.30 








1 

.34 

.10* 


.21 


3 

2 ♦ 

.39 

.31 


.36 



6 

.33 


.34 

.36 



1 

.23 

.30 


.31 


2 

2 

.12* 

.13* 


.14* 

Mechanical 


6 

.19* 


.08* 

.15* 

Comprehension 


1 

.19* 

.29 


.28 


3 

2 

.04* 

.12* 


.11* 



6 

.23 


.13* 

.20* 



1 

.26 

.27 


.29 


2 

2 

.23 

.29 


.29 

Arithmetical 


6 

.43 


.27 

.38 

Reasoning 


1 

.32 

.31 


.34 


3 

2 

.29 

.27 


.30 



6 

.48 


.36 

.45 



1 

.40 

.24 


.33 


2 

2 

.41 

.31 


.37 

Total test 


6 

.39 


.34 

.39 


1 

.42 

.24 


.34 



3 

2 

.41 

.36 


.40 



6 

.47 


.41 

,47 



1 

3.30 

3.16 


3.21 

Mean 


2 

3.33 

3.19 


3.23 



6 

3.25 


3.27 

3.26 



1 

.24 

.21 


.20 

<r 


2 

.25 

.21 


.21 



6 

.25 


.21 

.22 


*Not significantly different from zero at the 1% level. 


tory and Strategy, and Correspondence and 
Filing; (4) Ships and Aircraft. 

Communications: (1) Naval Communications 
(General) ; (2) Fundamentals of Radio; (3) 
Codes and Ciphers; (4) Touch Typewriting. 
Estimated reliabilities of the grades were 


31 

made by correlating grades on two of the sub¬ 
jects in each course with the other two subjects 
in that course. For the basic indoctrination 
course these correlations for three companies 
were .82, .87, and .87. For communications the 
correlations for two classes were .63 and .69. 
For advanced indoctrination the correlation 
for one class was .70. The reliabilities of the 
individual grades were almost certainly as high 
as these correlations and probably somewhat 
higher, since one would expect a subject to cor¬ 
relate higher with itself than with a somewhat 
different subject. 

The correlations of the three forms of the 
OQT with the grades made by three companies 
at Smith College are presented in Table 6. The 
total-test score was found to correlate with the 
final weighted average grade to the extent of 
.33 to .40 for those who took the communica¬ 
tions course and to the extent of .39 to .47 for 
those who took advanced indoctrination. The 
test was therefore shown to work less satisfac¬ 
torily for women than for men. In view of the 
differences in validity of the test as applied to 
the Dartmouth and Smith College populations 
it was suggested to the Bureau of Personnel 
that it would be preferable to use Forms 2 and 3 
of the OQT for men and to develop a different 
test for women officer candidates. 


Statistical Analysis 

After Forms 2 and 3 of the OQT had been 
put into use, answer sheets for a sample group 
of candidates were collected from the ONOP’s. 
Item difficulties, biserial correlations of each 
item with the score on the appropriate subtest, 
and reliabilities and intercorrelations of the 
subtests were determined. 10 

On the basis of this statistical information, 
the following recommendations were made to 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel: 

1. Whenever practicable, experimental tests 
should be tried out on a sample exactly similar 
to the group for whom the regular form of 
the test was intended. It would have been bet¬ 
ter to have tried out the experimental edition 
of Forms 2 and 3 on a group of applicants 
rather than on a group of already successful 


RESTRICTED 
















32 


THE SELECTION OF OFFICERS 


candidates. The men in the school group dif¬ 
fered slightly in average ability from the officer 
candidates at the ONOP’s and showed a smaller 
range of ability. 

2. An attempt to increase the reliability of 
the mechanical comprehension subtest of the 
OQT was recommended. Its reliability of .74 to 
.78 was too low to be acceptable. 

3. The three subtests were sufficiently inde¬ 
pendent to justify reporting separate scores 
rather than one total score. 

Forms 2 and 3 of the OQT continued in use 
at the ONOP’s until the end of the war. 

3 2 OTHER STUDIES OF OFFICER 
SELECTION 

321 The Prediction of Combat 

Leadership 

In fulfillment of a request from the Office of 
the Adjutant General, War Department, the 
Applied Psychology Panel conducted a pre¬ 
liminary study of combat leadership. Two 
classes of infantry officer candidates and two 
classes of field artillery officer candidates were 
studied. For each of the four classes, correla¬ 
tions were computed between graduation or 
failure to graduate and a number of other vari¬ 
ables which might be used to predict officer 
success. In addition, combat ratings of 176 in¬ 
fantry company officers were compared with 
several types of officer candidate school (OCS) 
records. 9 

Prediction of Success in Infantry OCS 

Information was obtained on 40 items con¬ 
cerning the men in two classes at Fort Ben- 
ning. Many of these items were found to be 
completely unrelated to success or failure in 
OCS. Those which appeared to be of greatest 
possible usefulness are given in Table 7 to¬ 
gether with their correlations with OCS suc¬ 
cess or failure. Some of the correlations 
presented in this table are at variance with 
common belief, for example, the finding that 
hobbies, classified as vigorous versus sedentary, 
showed a zero correlation with the criterion of 
being commissioned or not being commis¬ 
sioned. 


Table 7. Correlations of seven items obtained be¬ 
fore or upon entrance to infantry OCS against the 
criterion of being commissioned or not being com¬ 
missioned. 


Criterion vs following 

Class 304 

Class 311 


items* 

N — 

N = 



about 200 

about 200 

1 . 

Average first and sec¬ 




ond AGCT scores 

.45 

.46 

2. 

Amount of schooling 

.39 

.07 

3. 

Age at entrance to 




OCS 

—.12 

—.04 

4. 

Father’s occupation 




(leadership vs non¬ 




leadership) 

.12 

.32 

5. 

Athletic participation 

—.08 

—.10 

6. 

Hobbies (hobbies clas¬ 




sified as vigorous and 




athletic vs mild and 




sedentary) 

.00 

.02 

7. 

Leadership as indicated 




by former civilian po¬ 




sitions 

.20 

.40 


* Correlations 1, 2, 3 are biserial; 4, 5, 6, 7 are tetrachoric. 


At this OCS, both platoon leaders and fellow 
officer candidates made periodic ratings or 
rankings of the leadership qualities of the 
members of their platoon. These ratings were 


Table 8. Biserial correlations of leadership ratings 
against criterion of being commissioned or not 
being commissioned in infantry OCS. 


Criterion vs following 



items 

Class 304 

Class 311 


Platoon leaders’ ratings 

at the end of 5 weeks .36 (N = 201) .84 (N = 204)* 

Platoon leaders’ ratings 

at the end of 10 weeks .70 (N = 143) .78 (N = 143) 

Platoon leaders’ ratings 

at the end of 15 weeks .85 (N = 145) .84 (N = 126) 
Final company ratings .87 (iV= 145) .90 (iV = 126) 


* This high r was apparently due to the large number of ROTC 
candidates in Class 311. These men had received considerable mili¬ 
tary training and their leadership qualities were apparently evaluated 
quickly by their platoon leaders. 

considered in deciding which candidates 
should be commissioned. Some of the correla¬ 
tions of the ratings with the criterion are pre¬ 
sented in Table 8. 

Table 9 shows the intercorrelations among 
selected items of information obtained. 

None of the items obtainable before or upon 
entrance to OCS was highly predictive of later 


RESTRICTED 











OTHER STUDIES OF OFFICER SELECTION 


33 


performance in school. The highest correlation 
was with the Army General Classification Test 
score. The next highest was with leadership as 
indicated by former civilian positions. This 
measure looks hopeful for selection purposes. 
Attempts to measure the leadership actually 

Table 9. Intercorrelations among selected items at 
infantry OCS. 

Class 304 Class 311 


First AGCT and sec¬ 
ond AGCT .64 (N = 213) 

Platoon leaders’ ratings 
for leadership, end of 
5th week, and aver¬ 
age AGCT .21 (N = 200) 

Platoon leaders’ ratings 
for leadership, end of 
5th week, and high¬ 
est military rank at¬ 
tained in college 

ROTC —.16 (N = 37) 

Platoon leaders’ ratings 
for leadership, end of 
5th week, and end of 
15th week .65 (N = 99) 


.72 (2V = 212) 


.20 (N — 202) 


.15 (2V =119) 


.49 (2V = 114) 


shown in civilian positions would be well worth 
while. The information gained might materi¬ 
ally improve the selection of officer candidates. 

Prediction of Success in Field 
Artillery OCS 

Data from the Field Artillery Officer Candi¬ 
date School at Fort Sill are given in Tables 10 
and 11. 

Background information available upon en¬ 
trance to OCS was generally more useful in 
predicting success of field artillery officer can¬ 
didates than it was for infantry officer candi¬ 
dates. Previous education and grades on 
mathematics examination scores both showed 
useful relationships (correlations of .33 to .48) 
with success in field artillery OCS. 

The differences in the correlations found for 
classes 80 and 82, which sometimes were very 
large, appeared to be due to differences in the 
men enrolled in the two classes. Class 80 con¬ 
sisted of men from all branches of Service and 
included a number who had been in the Army 
for a considerable period. Class 82 consisted 
almost entirely of ROTC candidates. The dif¬ 
ferences in correlations for the two classes 


Table 10. Biserial correlations of nine items 
obtained before or upon entrance to field artillery 
OCS against the criterion of being commissioned 
or not being commissioned. 


Criterion vs following 

items N 

OC 80 

= about 200 

OC 82 

N — about 200 

Army General Classifi¬ 
cation Test 

.29 

.58 

Education (number 
years in school 
beyond elementary 
level) 

.33 

.36 

Age 

—.22 

—.67 

Participation in 
athletics 

—.20 

.16 

Civilian occupation 
(rating from Barr 
Scale) 

.17 

.32 

Length of military 
service 

—.52 

.74 

Mathematical test 
(given first week of 
course) 

.48 

.40 

Mathematical courses 
(number previously 
taken in school) 

.46 

.00 

Administration and 
military law (test 
given on arrival) 

.39 

.12 

Table 11. Biserial correlations of ratings of leader¬ 

ship against the criterion of being commissioned or 

not being commissioned 

in field artillery OCS. 


OC 80 

OC 82 

Criterion vs following 

items N 

= about 200 

N = about 200 

Tactical officers’ ratings 
at end of 5th week 
(leadership, courage, 
personal appearance) 

.80 

.74 

Tactical officers’ final 
ratings before grad¬ 
uation (leadership, 
courage, personal ap¬ 
pearance) 

.90 

.80 

Gunnery officers’ rat¬ 
ings. First rating 
during 5 weeks’ 
course (ability shown 
in firing problems) 

.52 

.86 

Gunnery officers’ rat¬ 
ings. Second rating 
during 5 weeks’ 
course 

.88 

.76 

Ratings by classmates 
at end of 5th week 

.54 

.70 

Ratings by classmates 
just before gradua¬ 
tion 

.96 

.90 


RESTRICTED 















34 


THE SELECTION OF OFFICERS 


made prediction hazardous, but, in general, it 
appeared probable that success in field artillery 
OCS could be predicted more accurately from 
data available before entrance than was the 
case for infantry OCS. 



Figure 1 . Agreement between combat ratings 
and ratings of leadership qualities shown in 
infantry OCS. 

The Relations between Success in 
Infantry OCS and Combat Ratings 

Ratings were obtained on the combat effi¬ 
ciency of 176 company officers all of whom had 
graduated from the infantry OCS at Fort 
Benning. These ratings were made on a five- 
point basis by the regimental commanders or 
their executive officers and by the battalion 
commanders. The ratings were distributed as 
follows: 


Rating 

Number 

Per cent 

Superior 

23 

13.1 

Excellent 

87 

49.4 

Very Satisfactory 

41 

23.3 

Satisfactory 

17 

9.7 

Unsatisfactory 

8 

4.5 


The agreement between combat ratings and 
the leadership ratings assigned while in school 
at Fort Benning can be seen in Figure 1. All 
the men who received school ratings in the first 
(top) fifth for leadership received combat rat¬ 
ings of “Satisfactory” or better. The percent¬ 
ages of combat ratings of “Superior” and 
“Excellent” became steadily smaller for the 
groups which received lower leadership ratings 
in school. 

There was no significant relation between 
combat success and AGCT score. But the group 
was a select one to begin with, the average 
AGCT score being 124.6. 

There was a fair relation between age and 
combat rating. The superior and excellent offi¬ 
cers on the whole came from the age group 
22 to 28. Proportionately fewer men below 22 
or above 28 were so rated. 

After these men graduated, the academic re¬ 
quirements were changed. The effect which the 
changed standards would have had on these 
176 officers is shown below. 



Per cent who 

Number who 


would not 

would not 


have gradu¬ 

have gradu¬ 


ated under 

ated under 


changed 

changed 


requirements 

requirements 

Superior group 

4.3 

1 

Excellent group 

10.3 

9 

Very Satisfactory group 

24.3 

10 

Satisfactory group 

29.4 

5 

Unsatisfactory group 

50.0 

4 


The trend of percentages shown by these fig¬ 
ures is very encouraging. The actual figures on 
which they are based, however, show that the 
gain of graduating four fewer officers who 
later received unsatisfactory combat ratings 
would have been made at the expense of reject¬ 
ing 20 men who later received combat ratings 
of “Very Satisfactory,” “Excellent,” or “Su¬ 
perior.” When officer candidates are plentiful 
this expense is justified. 

Conclusion Regarding Combat Leadership 

The results of this brief study of combat 
leadership were encouraging enough to war¬ 
rant further investigations in this field. Cer¬ 
tainly the importance of accurate prediction of 
successful combat leadership is great enough to 


RESTRICTED 





















OTHER STUDIES OF OFFICER SELECTION 


35 


justify a good deal of effort directed toward 
improving the methods used to select company 
officers. Of first importance in such a study will 
be the task of obtaining careful, detailed, and 
reliable measures of success or failure on the 
part of a large number of officers engaged in a 
variety of military duties. These measures are 
necessary as a criterion to use in evaluating 
possible selection tests or measures. 

322 NROTC Selection Test 2 

The Bureau of Naval Personnel requested 
the Applied Psychology Panel to make an 
analysis of the NROTC Selective Examination 
and to suggest revision of that test. The test 
consisted of four parts: 100 multiplication 
problems; 50 block counting items; 50 vocabu¬ 
lary items; and 50 arithmetical reasoning 
items. 

The study of the NROTC Selective Examina¬ 
tion included an item analysis of a sample of 
500 papers, a study of the reliability and inter¬ 
correlations of the parts of the test, and a study 
of the validity of the test. Grades in deck offi¬ 
cers school (N := 216) and engineering school 
(N = 193) were used as criteria. This investi¬ 
gation led to the conclusion that the total score 
could be made somewhat better for predicting 
grades by omitting the multiplication section 
and by simply summing the scores on the other 
three parts instead of using the complicated 
derived-score system previously in use. For 
two groups of students, correlations between 
total derived scores on the test and final grades 
were .49 and .51. Using unit weights for the 
three tests (Block Counting, Vocabulary, and 
Arithmetical Reasoning) gave multiple validity 
coefficients of .50 and .55 for the same two 
groups. Omitting the Block Counting test and 
weighting the other two equally reduced these 
correlations to .45 and .49. It therefore seemed 
probable that the block counting section could 
also be eliminated and the vocabulary and 
arithmetical reasoning sections improved suf¬ 


ficiently to give validity coefficients as good as 
those found for all thre^ tests. Detailed sug¬ 
gestions for revising these two subtests were 
made to the Burban of Naval Personnel. 2 

3 2 3 Selection of Flotilla and Group 
Commanders 11 

Project N-117 of the Applied Psychology 
Panel conducted a brief investigation of the in¬ 
formation which might be useful in selecting 
flotilla and group commanders in the Amphibi¬ 
ous Training Command, U. S. Atlantic Fleet. 
The study was made at the request of that 
Command. 

Nine possible predictors were studied in 
relation to fitness report data (Items 8, 10, and 
13 of the Report on the Fitness of Officers, 
NavPers 310) for a group of 76 officers, 42 of 
whom were graduates of the Naval Academy 
and 34 of whom were not. 

The predictors included in the study were 
OQT, Form 3; MKE, Form 2 and MKM, Form 
2 (see Chapter 2) ; Officer Personnel Inventory 
(see Chapter 4) ; age, rank, months of sea duty, 
whether an academy graduate or not, and in¬ 
terviewer's overall evaluation. 

The interviewer’s evaluation showed higher 
correlations (.40, .36, and .45) with the three 
fitness report items than did any of the other 
predictors. The small number of cases included 
in the study and the fact that both the inter¬ 
viewer’s opinion and the fitness reports were, 
in part, based upon the same factors and the 
•same kind of general opinion—both require 
that these results be interpreted with caution. 

3 ‘ 2 ‘ 4 Selection of Tactical Radar Officers 

Two projects of the Applied Psychology 
Panel contributed significantly to the develop¬ 
ment of tests and procedures used by the Navy 
to select officers for duty in combat informa¬ 
tion centers. These tests are described in Chap¬ 
ter 7, “Selecting Radar Operators.” 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 4 

ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 

By Dael Wolfle a 


Summary 

T he personal inventory was developed in 
order to have available a device for making 
quick identification of emotionally unstable 
men who are likely to break down under the 
stress of hazardous duty. 

The Personal Inventory consists of paired 
statements. From each pair, the man being 
tested selects the one which best fits him. Each 
pair includes a symptomatic and a nonsympto- 
matic (normal) statement. The number of 
symptomatic statements checked constitutes a 
man's score. 

With many different Service groups it was 
demonstrated that men making high scores 
were much more likely to be judged unfit for 
service, when examined by a psychiatrist, than 
were men making low scores. The Personal In¬ 
ventory was found to discriminate better than 
other tests and methods tried out between ac¬ 
ceptable men and those given psychiatric dis¬ 
charges. 

The Personal Inventory was used as a pre¬ 
liminary screening device to aid the psychia¬ 
trist by identifying the men most likely to be 
classed as emotionally unfit. It was thus pos¬ 
sible for the psychiatrist to interview only a 
fraction of the men, but to find, in that frac¬ 
tion, most of those who would have been given 
psychiatric discharges if all men had been in¬ 
terviewed. 

41 INTRODUCTION 

In selecting men for special types of duty, 
such as officer candidate schools, submarines, 
parachute troops, etc., physical examinations 
weed out the obviously physically unfit, and 
aptitude tests weed out most of those too inapt 
to learn their special duties. A group is left who 
are disqualified because they are emotionally 

a This chapter is based primarily upon the work of 
NDRC Project N-113. 


unstable and likely to break down under the 
stress of hazardous duty. Physical examina¬ 
tions and aptitude tests are not designed to 
pick out this type of person, and they do not 
do it well. 

Brief psychiatric examinations can some¬ 
times be used to identify the emotionally un¬ 
stable or psychiatric cases. But the limited 
number of qualified military psychiatrists and 
the large number of men to be examined com¬ 
bined, during World War II, to make it impos¬ 
sible to give thorough psychiatric examinations 
to all men for whom such examinations would 
have been desirable. 

Civilian experience prior to the war led to 
the belief that it would be valuable to develop a 
test for preliminary screening of psychiatri- 
cally undesirable men in the military Services. 
It was agreed that an inventory should be de¬ 
veloped which would emphasize biographical 
items. A contract to develop such an inventory 
was written with Brown University. The proj¬ 
ect started under Section D-2 of NDRC, con¬ 
tinued under the National Research Council 
Committee on Service Personnel—Selection 
and Training, and was completed under the 
Applied Psychology Panel as Project N-113. 

The result of this work was the Personal 
Inventory. In many Service situations it proved 
to be a highly useful device for the preliminary 
screening of large groups of men. Those show¬ 
ing evidence of emotional disturbance or insta¬ 
bility could be interviewed by the psychiatrist 
while the others could be passed without inter¬ 
view. Where regulations required interviewing 
every man, more time could be spent with those 
whose scores indicated considerable likelihood 
of emotional instability. 

42 THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 

Four forms of the Personal Inventory were 
developed. Three were designed for use with 
enlisted men and one for use with officers. 


36 


RESTRICTED 



THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 


37 


4 ' 21 Enlisted Men’s Personal Inventory, 

Long Form 1 

Development 

The original form of the Personal Inventory 
(PI) for enlisted men contained 145 items, 
most of which were in a forced-choice form. In 
answering each item one must choose between 
two statements. One alternative in each item 
presents a symptomatic attitude or type of be¬ 
havior; the other a nonsymptomatic attitude 
or type of behavior of approximately equal 
acceptability. For example: 

I have felt bad I have felt bad 

more from head more from 

colds ( ) dizziness ( ) 

For several reasons the items were phrased 
in this forced-choice form rather than in the 
more familiar Yes-No or Yes-No-Doubtful 
form. The most important reason was the be¬ 
lief that this form would elicit more honest 
answers than a Yes-No question on the same 
symptom, e.g.: 

I frequently feel dizzy Yes No 

In addition, statistical treatment of the an¬ 
swers for the form used was relatively easy, 
and it was believed less subject to a “halo” 
effect than the Yes-No form of item. One dis¬ 
advantage of the form was the fact that many 
men objected to being forced to choose between 
two statements neither of which applied par¬ 
ticularly well to them. In spite of this objection, 
the method worked very effectively. 

The items were constructed on the basis of 
a careful study of the case histories of a group 
of normal enlisted men and another group of 
psychiatric cases. The case histories were ob¬ 
tained from an OSRD report entitled “Analy¬ 
sis of 100 Psychiatric Cases from the Chelsea 
Naval Hospital.” All case records were ex¬ 
amined for biographical items which appeared 
to differentiate the normal from the psychiatric 
histories. The term “biographical” was con¬ 
strued broadly to include educational, occu¬ 
pational, social, and attitudinal factors and any 


other symptoms which Recurred significantly 
more frequently in one group than in the 
other. Analysis of the case histories was sup¬ 
plemented by conferences with naval psychia¬ 
trists and other medical officers and by 
reference to naval and military psychiatric 
literature. 

The 300 items originally constructed were 
sifted to give appropriate emphasis to each 
area to be covered in the final inventory. Those 
finally selected were then further refined to 
make them understandable and relatively in¬ 
offensive to the subjects and to make the two 
alternatives in each item approximately 
equally desirable. In most items, however, 
there was a slightly greater apparent desira¬ 
bility for the choice usually made by normal 
individuals, the nonsymptomatic alternative. 

The inventory was constructed so that the 
answers could be recorded on a separate an¬ 
swer sheet which could be scored either by 
hand or by machine. 

The inventory was printed in two formats. 
In Format A the answers were recorded 
through holes in the test booklet. The scoring 
key collected together the answers to related 
items. This feature made it possible to secure 
subscores on each of 20 separate clusters of 
items, for example, hypochondriasis, sociability, 
or mood swing. Format B did not have this 
clustering principle or the mechanical elabo¬ 
rateness which it required. In Format B only 
a single score was obtained. The two formats 
were shown experimentally to be equivalent. 8 
In practice, Format B soon became widely used 
and Format A practically forgotten. Since the 
items on the two formats were identical, 
further discussion of the long form will not dis¬ 
tinguish between Formats A and B. In prac¬ 
tically all cases Format B was the one used. 
That form is reproduced in the appendix. 

A later study 19 from the Medical Research 
Department, U. S. Submarine Base, New Lon¬ 
don, Connecticut, supplied statistical support 
for the general preference for Format B over 
Format A. This study presented the inter¬ 
correlations of 58 of the 60 scored items. Of a 
total of 1,653 (tetrachoric) correlations, 1,220 
fell within the range —.10 to + .19. A detailed 
factor analysis of the data was not made, but 


RESTRICTED 



38 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 


Table 1. Item analysis of the Personal Inventory, long form. 






N answering 

Percentage answering 






N answering 

Percentage answering 




A answering item 

given alternative 

given alternative 




N answering item 

given alternative 

given alternative 


Item 


Nor- 

Dis- 

Nor- 

Dis- 

Nor- 

Dis- 

Critical 

Item 


Nor¬ 

Dis¬ 

Nor¬ 

Dis¬ 

Nor¬ 

Dis¬ 

Critical 

No. 

Choice 

mals 

charges 

mals 

charges 

mals 

charges 

ratio 

No. 

Choice 

mals 

charges 

mals 

charges 

mals 

charges 

ratio 

1 

R 

1,001 

384 

190 

113 

19 0 

29.4 

4.3 

79* 

L 

990 

374 

181 

118 

18.3 

31.6 

5.2 

2 

R 

994 

380 

796 

306 

80.1 

80.5 

0.4 

80* 

L 

998 

383 

65 

108 

6.5 

28.2 

8.6* 

3 

R 

980 

360 

814 

302 

83.1 

83.9 

0.4 

81 

L 

1,003 

385 

456 

194 

45.5 

50.4 

1 .4 

4* 

R 

956 

362 

130 

121 

13.6 

33.4 

7 ,0*(S) 

82* 

L 

1,001 

385 

102 

195 

10.2 

50.6 

15 A*(S) 

5* 

R 

994 

381 

179 

116 

18.0 

30.4 

4.6 

83 

R 

1,002 

378 

823 

326 

82.1 

86.2 

1.8 

6 

R 

1,000 

379 

81 

56 

8.1 

14.8 

3.5 

84 

R 

999 

383 

261 

202 

26.1 

52.7 

7.9* 

7 

R 

995 

380 

358 

164 

36.0 

43.2 

2.4 

85 

L 

1,001 

385 

218 

92 

21 .8 

23.9 

0.8 

8* 

R 

1,003 

385 

37 

41 

3.7 

10.6 

4.1 

86 

L 

1,002 

384 

461 

198 

46.0 

51.6 

2.0 

9 

R 

1,004 

385 

93 

38 

9.3 

9.9 

0.6 

87 

R 

1,000 

384 

565 

266 

56.5 

69.3 

4.2 

10 

R 

994 

384 

61 

26 

6.1 

6.8 

0.7 

88 

L 

994 

382 

526 

214 

52.9 

56.0 

1.0 

11* 

R 

998 

384 

139 

120 

13.9 

31.3 

6.5* 

89 

L 

1,001 

385 

61 

49 

6.1 

12.7 

3.7 

12 

L 

996 

383 

161 

128 

16.2 

33.4 

6.3* 

90* 

L 

991 

378 

45 

48 

4.5 

12.7 

4.4 

13* 

R 

1,000 

384 

67 

50 

6.7 

13.0 

3.2 

91* 

R 

999 

382 

9 

71 

0.9 

18.6 

8.9* 

14 

L 

1,001 

385 

250 

118 

25 .0 

30.6 

2.2 

92 

R 

1,001 

382 

142 

88 

14.2 

23.0 

3.7 

15 

L 

1,001 

385 

190 

120 

19.0 

31.2 

4.5 

93 

L 

999 

383 

118 

70 

11.8 

18.3 

2.7 

16* 

R 

994 

384 

309 

192 

31.1 

50 0 

5.5* 

94* 

L 

1,003 

385 

127 

144 

12.7 

37.4 

9.5* 

17 

R 

1,001 

381 

187 

105 

18.7 

27.6 

3.5 

95 

L 

1.002 

383 

199 

99 

19.9 

25.8 

2.3 

18 

R 

990 

380 

120 

70 

12.1 

18.4 

2.7 

96* 

L 

1,001 

384 

22 

94 

2.2 

24.5 

9.8*(S) 

19 

L 

999 

384 

107 

88 

10.7 

22.9 

5.2 

97* 

L 

996 

384 

486 

241 

48.8 

62.8 

4.7 

20 

R 

1,000 

384 

119 

72 

11.9 

18.8 

3.1 

98* 

R 

1,001 

383 

163 

163 

16.3 

42.6 

9.8* 

21 

R 

1,001 

383 

133 

103 

13.3 

26.9 

5.5 

99 

L 

1,002 

381 

371 

151 

37.0 

39.6 

1.0 

22 

R 

996 

384 

503 

231 

50.5 

60.2 

3.0 

100* 

L 

1,003 

384 

158 

117 

15.8 

30.5 

5.4 

23 

L 

994 

382 

184 

108 

18.5 

28'. 3 

3.5 

101 

L 

999 

385 

289 

165 

28.9 

42.9 

4.9 

24 

L 

992 

382 

262 

118 

26.4 

30.9 

1.8 

102* 

R 

1,003 

384 

152 

139 

15.2 

36.2 

8.0* 

25 

L 

1,001 

385 

93 

77 

9.3 

20.0 

5.0 

103* 

L 

1,003 

384 

534 

298 

53.2 

77.6 

9 .5*(S) 

26 

L 

1,003 

385 

356 

176 

35.5 

45.7 

3.4 

104 

R 

1,004 

383 

183 

126 

18.2 

32.9 

5.6* 

27 

L 

996 

384 

131 

93 

13.2 

24.2 

3.7 

105* 

R 

998 

384 

402 

242 

40.3 

63.0 

7.7* 

28 

L 

1,001 

384 

25 

26 

2.5 

6.8 

9.1* 

106 

R 

1,000 

384 

260 

145 

26.0 

37.8 

4.2 

29 

L 

1,003 

385 

269 

149 

26.8 

38.7 

4.2 

107* 

L 

1,002 

385 

50 

133 

5.0 

34.5 

12.0*(S) 

30* 

R 

997 

383 

274 

193 

27.5 

50.4 

6.5* 

108* 

L 

997 

382 

343 

242 

34.4 

63.4 

9.9* 

31 

R 

999 

381 

191 

161 

19.1 

42.3 

9.1 *(S) 

109* 

R 

999 

381 

16 

60 

1 .6 

15.7 

7.2* 

32* 

L 

999 

379 

331 

223 

33.1 

58.8 

8.9* 

110* 

R 

1,000 

384 

26 

100 

2.6 

26.0 

10.2*(S) 

33 

R 

998 

384 

694 

290 

69.5 

75.5 

2 6 

111 

R 

996 

382 

338 

130 

33.9 

34.0 

0.0 

34 

R 

988 

376 

60 

57 

6.1 

15.2 

4 6 

112* 

R 

986 

378 

30 

65 

3.0 

17.2 

7.1* 

35* 

L 

998 

374 

530 

275 

53.1 

73.5 

7.5* 

113* 

L 

1,002 

384 

45 

92 

4.5 

24 0 

8.2* 

36* 

R 

997 

367 

34 

143 

3.4 

39.0 

14.1*(S) 

114 

R 

996 

379 

98 

65 

9.8 

17.2 

3.3 

37 

R 

1,000 

378 

461 

214 

46.1 

56.6 

2.8 

115* 

L 

1,002 

383 

39 

65 

3.9 

17.0 

6.5* 

38 

L 

998 

385 

407 

224 

40.8 

58 2 

5.7* 

116 

R 

1,001 

385 

56 

30 

5.6 

7.8 

1 .2 

39* 

R 

1,003 

385 

53 

98 

5.3 

25 5 

8 7 *(S) 

117 

L 

988 

382 

529 

243 

53.5 

63.6 

3.4 

40 

L 

1,004 

385 

466 

182 

46.4 

47.3 

0 5 

118 

L 

934 

370 

112 

54 

12.0 

14.6 

1 .4 

41 

L 

1,002 

385 

424 

219 

42.3 

56.9 

5.1 

119 

L 

1,000 

382 

299 

189 

29.9 

49.5 

5.6* 

42* 

R 

1,003 

383 

119 

158 

11 .9 

41 .3 

10 , 9 >*(S) 

120 

L 

1,003 

384 

61 

40 

6.1 

10.4 

2.4 

43 

L 

1,000 

381 

700 

318 

70.0 

83.5 

3 0 

121* 

L 

996 

382 

209 

188 

21 .0 

49.2 

8.3* 

44 

L 

999 

383 

214 

103 

21 .4 

26.9 

2. j 

122* 

L 

1,003 

383 

19 

76 

1 .9 

19.8 

8.8* 

45 

L 

1,002 

383 

103 

67 

10.3 

17.5 

3./ 

123* 

R 

996 

382 

26 

120 

2.6 

31 .4 

11 .9*(S) 

46 

R 

1,002 

383 

873 

342 

87.1 

89.3 

1 0 

124 

L 

998 

380 

633 

266 

63.4 

70.0 

2.5 

47* 

L 

999 

385 

12 

157 

1 .2 

40.8 

15.9*(S) 

125 

R 

991 

382 

20 

12 

2.0 

3.1 

1 .0 

48* 

R 

994 

380 

93 

53 

9.4 

13 .9 

2.4 

126* 

L 

992 

379 

89 

83 

9.0 

21.9 

5.7* 

49 

R 

969 

370 

585 

231 

60.4 

62.4 

0.3 

127 

L 

1,000 

383 

244 

123 

24.4 

32.1 

2.9 

50* 

R 

986 

380 

115 

98 

11.7 

25.8 

5 .6* 

128 

L 

1,001 

385 

157 

87 

15.7 

22.6 

2.9 

51* 

L 

1,001 

384 

144 

211 

14.4 

54.9 

15.0*(S) 

129* 

L 

1,001 

385 

109 

135 

10.9 

35.1 

9.2* 

52* 

L 

1,000 

382 

10 

51 

1 .0 

13.4 

6.9* 

130 

L 

996 

384 

234 

137 

23.5 

35.7 

4.3 

53 

R 

1,002 

385 

275 

194 

27.4 

50.4 

7.7* 

131 

L 

1,000 

381 

122 

94 

12.2 

24.7 

5.4 

54 

L 

1,002 

383 

533 

269 

53.2 

70.2 

6.1* 

132 

L 

1,000 

384 

156 

98 

15.6 

25.5 

4.0 

55 

L 

1,000 

384 

517 

257 

51.7 

66.9 

5.2 

133 

L 

995 

378 

98 

48 

9.8 

12.7 

1 .5 

56 

L 

998 

380 

337 

175 

33.8 

46.1 

3.5 

134 

R 

998 

381 

26 

11 

2.6 

2.9 

0.0 

57 

L 

994 

385 

106 

58 

10.7 

15.1 

1.8 

135 

L 

998 

383 

152 

72 

15.2 

18.8 

1.8 

58 

R 

1,002 

385 

317 

133 

31 .6 

34.5 

1.0 

136 

L 

997 

385 

228 

160 

22.9 

41 .6 

6.7* 

59* 

L 

1,001 

382 

143 

109 

14 3 

28.5 

5.9* 

137* 

L 

998 

384 

95 

118 

9.5 

30.7 

8. 2*(S) 

60 

L 

999 

384 

149 

71 

14.9 

18.5 

1 .8 

138* 

R 

997 

385 

364 

243 

36.5 

63.1 

9.3* 

61* 

L 

999 

380 

214 

171 

21 .4 

45.0 

7.1*(S) 

139* 

L 

1,003 

383 

22 

54 

2.2 

14.1 

6.5* 

62* 

R 

992 

377 

477 

228 

48.1 

60.5 

4.0 

140* 

L 

1,001 

384 

334 

195 

33.4 

50.8 

5.2 

63* 

L 

972 

366 

196 

197 

20.2 

53.8 

9.8*(S) 

141* 

R 

998 

384 

14 

52 

1 .4 

13.5 

7.1* 

64 

R 

1,000 

379 

695 

269 

69.5 

71 .0 

0.7 

142* 

L 

1,001 

385 

50 

75 

5.0 

19.5 

7.1* 

65* 

R 

999 

381 

119 

142 

11.9 

37.3 

5 ,6*(S) 

143* 

L 

1,001 

383 

10 

31 

1.0 

8.1 

4.9 

66* 

R 

998 

377 

41 

109 

4.1 

28.9 

10,5*(S) 

144 

R 

999 

384 

74 

29 

7.4 

7.6 

0.6 

67 

R 

998 

384 

294 

147 

29.5 

38.3 

3.2 

145 

R 

1,000 

385 

139 

79 

13.9 

20.5 

3.0 

68 

69* 

L 

L 

993 

995 

383 

381 

262 

96 

135 

152 

26.4 

9.6 

35.2 

39.9 

2.9 

11 .5*0$) 

Note —The item numbers are shown in column 1. The 60 items marked 

70* 

L 

1,002 

383 

217 

165 

21.7 

43.1 

7.5* 

with 

an asterisk are 

the 60 most discriminative items found in 

the first 

71 

72 

73 

R 

R 

L 

997 

381 

382 
382 

182 

104 

341 

99 

87 

168 

18.3 

10 5 

34.2 

26.0 

3.2 

item analysis. 

1 The 60 items marked with an asterisk in the last column are 

994 

998 

22.8 

44.0 

5 .0 

3.4 

the 60 most discriminative items found in the second item analysis. 5 The 

74* 

L 

997 

381 

485 

263 

48.6 

69.0 

6.9* 

20 critical ratios in the final column 

marked with the letter ( S ) indicate 

75* 

76 

77 

L 

T 

1,000 

1,002 

1,004 

384 

385 
384 

180 

211 

211 

152 

112 

100 

18.0 

21.1 

21 .0 

39.6 

29.1 

26.0 

7.9 *(S) 
6.2* 

2.0 

the 20 items which later became the short form of the Personal Inventory. 7 

U 

L 

The i 

choice indicated 

in the 

second 

column 

is the < 

choice marked more 

78* 

L 

994 

380 

247 

199 

24.8 

52.4 

7.9* 

frequently by the discharge group than by the normal group. 



RESTRICTED 


















THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 


39 


inspection seemed to indicate the presence of 
two factors. There was no inspectional support 
for the use of the twenty separate cluster 
scores obtained with Format A. Correlations 
between answers to 37 PI items and Otis In¬ 
telligence Test scores are also contained in 
reference 19. 

Scoring Key 

A scoring key 1 was devised by administering 
the long form to a group of 1,210 newly enlisted 
men who had been passed upon favorably in a 
psychiatric interview, and to 105 men who had 
been passed upon by a discharge board and 
were being discharged for psychiatric reasons. 
These men were tested while in the psychiatric 
ward. Both groups were obtained at the U. S. 
Naval Training Station, Newport, Rhode 
Island. 

Papers were excluded for all men who 
omitted more than five items and for those who 
had at some time been under psychiatric obser¬ 
vation but had later been returned to their 
training companies for trial duty. These exclu¬ 
sions left a group of 1,004 normals and a group 
of 84 psychiatric discharges. 

An item analysis of the answers of these two 
groups to each of the 145 items was made. Dif¬ 
ferentiation of each item between the two 
groups was measured in terms of the critical 
ratio. Sixty items were found to have critical 
ratios of 2.7 or greater. The scoring key for 
the long form of the PI is based on these 60 
items. A man is given one point for each of the 
60 items to which his answer is the same as 
that characteristically given by the discharge 
group. Low scores are, therefore, “good” 
scores. 

A second analysis 5 of the same type was 
made on a new group of 385 psychiatric dis¬ 
charges from Newport Naval Training Station 
and the same group of 1,004 Newport normals. 
Forty-nine of the 60 items having critical ratios 
of 2.7 or greater in the first analysis were 
among the 50 most discriminative items in the 
second analysis. The detailed results of this 
second item analysis are given in Table 1. 
Comparison of the ability of the PI to distin¬ 
guish between normal and psychiatric groups 


showed only insignificant differences between 
the two scoring keys. The original scoring key 
was therefore retained. 

The distribution of critical ratios of the 60 
scored items is given in Table 2. The median 
critical ratio was over 4.0, and all were greater 
than 2.7. 


Table 2. Critical ratios of items in the Personal 
Inventory scoring key. 


C. R. (diff. /o m ) 

Number of items 

2.7-2.9 

4 

3.0-3.9 

24 

4.0-4.9 

17 

5.0-5.9 

10 

6 .0-6.9 

3 

7.0-7.9 

2 


60 


Reliability 

The reliability of scores on the long form was 
determined on four groups of subjects. The 
data are given in Table 3. 


Table 3. Reliability coefficients (odd-even, Spear¬ 
man-Brown corrected) for the long form of the 
Personal Inventory. 


Group 

Mean 

a 

ft 

508 Newport recruits 

9.4 

4.6 

.69 

610 amphibious forces men 

14.4 

8.1 

.85* 

188 Newport psychiatric discharges 

25.8 

11.1 

.91 

124 Newport psychiatric discharges 

19.8 

10.9 

.92 


* This reliability coefficient was based on a first half-second half 
rather than an odd-even correlation. 


Validity 

To test the validity of the PI it was ad¬ 
ministered to several new groups and scored 
by the previously devised stencil. 1 These new 
groups were obtained at the U. S. Naval Train¬ 
ing Station, Newport, Rhode Island, the U. S. 
Naval Hospital, Chelsea, Massachusetts, and 
the U. S. Submarine Base, New London, Con¬ 
necticut. The group at Newport Naval Train¬ 
ing Station consisted of 508 inductees who had 
passed through psychiatric screening and 
were considered normal; 116 men who had 


RESTRICTED 











40 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 


been under observation in the psychiatric ward 
but who were subsequently returned to their 
companies for trial duty; and 124 men who 
were being discharged for psychiatric reasons. 
The answer sheets for all three groups were 

Table 4. Number and cumulative percentage at each 
score on Personal Inventory for 508 normals, 124 dis¬ 
charges, and 116 back-to-duty cases at Newport Naval 
Training Station. 


508 Newport 

124 Newport 

116 Newport 

normals 

discharges 

back-to-duty 




Cumulative 



Cumulative 


Cumulative 

Score 

N 

per cent 

Score 

N 

per cent 

Score 

N 

per cent 

0 

1 

0.19 

0 

0 


0 

0 


1 

5 

1.17 

1 

0 


1 

2 

1.72 

2 

21 

5.30 

2 

2 

1.61 

2 

4 

5.17 

3 

17 

8.64 

3 

0 

1.61 

3 

5 

9.48 

4 

34 

15.35 

4 

2 

3.22 

4 

6 

14.66 

5 

33 

21.82 

5 

3 

5.64 

5 

8 

21.56 

6 

32 

28.11 

6 

5 

9.68 

6 

11 

31.06 

7 

40 

36.08 

7 

2 

11.29 

7 

10 

39.68 

8 

38 

43.56 

8 

4 

14.52 

8 

15 

52.58 

9 

47 

52.81 

9 

5 

18.56 

9 

10 

61.20 

10 

51 

62.84 

10 

6 

23.40 

10 

11 

70.70 

11 

40 

70.71 

11 

9 

30.65 

11 

5 

75.01 

12 

35 

77.69 

12 

1 

31.46 

12 

10 

83.63 

13 

22 

81.92 

13 

9 

38.71 

13 

2 

85.35 

14 

25 

86.84 

14 

2 

40.32 

14 

1 

86.21 

15 

19 

90.58 

15 

4 

43.55 

15 

4 

89.66 

16 

17 

93.82 

16 

4 

46.78 

16 

0 

89.66 

17 

11 

96.08 

17 

2 

48.39 

17 

3 

92.25 

18 

7 

97.45 

18 

4 

51.62 

18 

0 

92.25 

19 

3 

98.04 

19 

2 

53.23 

19 

2 

93.97 

20 

3 

98.63 

20 

4 

56.46 

20 

2 

95.69 

21 

0 

98.63 

21 

3 

58.88 

21 

1 

96.55 

22 

3 

99.22 

22 

2 

60.49 

22 

0 

96.55 

23 

1 

99.41 

23 

6 

65.33 

23 

1 

97.41 

24 

1 

99.60 

24 

5 

69.37 

24 

1 

98.27 

25 

0 

99.60 

25 

3 

71.79 

25 

0 

98.27 

26 

1 

99.89 

26 

1 

72.60 

26 

1 

99.13 

27 

0 

99.89 

27 

4 

75.83 

27 

0 

99.13 

28 

0 

99.89 

28 

0 

75.83 

28 

0 

99.13 

29 

0 

99.89 

29 

4 

79.06 

29 

1 

100.00 

30 

0 

99.89 

30 

1 

79.87 




31 

0 

99.89 

31 

2 

81.48 




32 

0 

99.89 

32 

5 

85.52 




33 

0 

99.89 

33 

0 

85.52 




34 

1 

100.00 

34 

2 

87.13 







35 

0 

87.13 







36 

2 

88.74 







37 

6 

93.58 







38 

1 

94.39 







39 

1 

95.20 







40 

1 

96.01 







41 

2 

97.62 







42 

1 

98.43 







43 

0 

98.43 







44 

0 

98.43 







45 

1 

99.20 







52 

1 

100.00 





scored by means of the previously devised 
stencil. The number and cumulative percentage 
of each of the three groups falling at each 
score is given in Table 4. 


It may be seen from Table 4 that cutoff 
scores can be selected which include most of 
the discharges and only a small percentage of 
the normals. For example, 3.9 per cent of the 
normals made scores of 18 or higher, while 51.6 
per cent of the discharges made such scores. 
The difference between the percentages of dis¬ 
charges and normals identified by a cutting 
score of 18 was over 12 times its standard 
error. 1 

Similar analyses of the answer sheets from 
a smaller group of men tested at the U. S. 
Naval Hospital, Chelsea, Massachusetts, 
showed essentially the same ability to distin¬ 
guish between normal and psychiatric cases. 
A critical score of 18 identified 60 per cent of 
the psychiatric cases while including 3.9 per 
cent of the normals. Further evidence support¬ 
ing the value of the inventory came from 
analysis of the New London data. 

A comparison of average scores made by 
different Navy groups to whom the long form 
of the PI was given supplied additional infor- 


Table 5. Personal Inventory scores for various 
Navy groups. 




Mean 

Personal Inv. 
score 

Standard 

deviation 

276 

Commissioned officers in 
submarine school 

6.4 

3.9 

646 

Coast Guard Reserve 
Cadets 

7.4 

4.6 

189 

Psychiatrically approved 
submarine school men 

8.3 

4.3 

609 

Newport normal recruits 
subsequently receiving 
ratings 

8.3 

4.2 

1,512 

Newport normal recruits 

9.3 

4.6 

856 

Newport normal recruits 
not receiving ratings 
within a year 

10.0 

4.8 

444 

US S' New Jersey men 

11.1 

5.7 

74 

Psychiatrically disap¬ 
proved submarine 
school men 

14.6 

8.4 

2,301 

Amphibious Forces men 

15.2 

8.0 

301 

Newport psychiatric dis¬ 
charges 

21.6 

11.0 


mation on the validity of the Inventory. These 
data are presented in Table 5. G 

The differentiating ability of the Inventory 
is shown graphically in Figure 1. The separate 
points through which the two curves are drawn 


RESTRICTED 












THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 


41 



o---------- 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 


PER CENT OF NORMALS INCLUDED 

Figure 1 . Value of Personal Inventory, Long Form, in differentiating psychiatric discharges from 
normals. 

The two curves show the best and the worst differentiation found with the PI, Long Form. Each point, on each curve, represents 
a possible cutting score. Several such scores are indicated on each curve. The percentage of psychiatric discharges who equaled 
or exceeded each cutting score is shown on the vertical axis. The percentage of normals who equaled or exceeded each score is 
shown on the horizontal axis. 

Curve 1 is based on 508 normals and 188 discharges. Curve 2 is based on 307 normals and 89 discharges. 


represent different possible cutting scores. 
Each curve shows, along the horizontal axis, 
the percentage of a group of normal men who 
were included along with the percentage of 
psychiatric discharges indicated on the vertical 
axis. The two curves represent the best and the 
poorest differentiation found in any of the 
studies of the long form. Both are very much 


better than chance differentiation. In the best 
differentiation, 70 per cent of the psychiatric 
discharges were identified by a cutting score 
which included only 3 per cent of the normals. 
In the poorest differentiation, approximately 
43 per cent of the discharges were identified by 
a cutting score which also included 3 per cent 
of the normals. 


RESTRICTED 




































42 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 


Expressing the results in terms of percent¬ 
ages gives an unduly favorable account of the 
usefulness of the inventory, for it neglects the 
fact that the satisfactory men far outnumber 
the unsatisfactory ones. At Newport Naval 
Training Station approximately 4 per cent of 
the men were given early psychiatric dis¬ 
charges. Thus about 40 were discharged of 
each 1,000 men examined. According to the 
best results shown in Table 1, approximately 
28 of these 40 men could be identified by a cut¬ 
ting score which also picked up 29 of the 960 
acceptable men in each 1,000. With less favor¬ 
able discrimination the same cutting score 
might include considerably more normal than 
psychiatric cases. However, administration of 


premium, as it usually was during the war, 
the PI can help materially in the selection 
process. 

42 2 Enlisted Men’s Personal Inventory, 

Short Form' 

After considerable experience with the long 
form of the PI a short form of 20 items was 
constructed. This form includes the ten most 
discriminative items from the long form and 
ten other items which showed fairly high dis¬ 
crimination between normal and psychiatric 
groups. These were included to give continuity 
in the subject matter of the short form. The 20 


Table 6. Personal Inventory, Short Form. 


In each question, mark (X) the answer which fits you 
one that fits you better than the other. 

1 I graduated from high school Yes ( ) 

2 I was a sickly child ( ) 

3 I have felt bad more from head colds ( ) 

4 I seek excitement ( ) 

5 I like to have people do things my way ( ) 

6 I am more nervous ( ) 

7 Somehow I never could find enough to do in my free 

time ( ) 

8 I wish I wouldn’t feel so tired ( ) 

9 I wish I could have more excitement ( ) 

10 I wish I didn’t have so many aches and pains ( ) 

11 I wish I weren’t so nervous ( ) 

12 I wish I could get myself to take more chances ( ) 

13 I have more headaches than the average person 

Yes ( ) 

14 The hours at night seem long Yes ( ) 

15 I like most any kind of food ( ) 

16 After exertion I feel hungry ( ) 

17 When excited I feel weak ( ) 

18 I think I might like to watch a surgical operation 

sometime ( ) 

19 My heart sometimes speeds up for no reason at all 

Yes ( ) 

20 I have never gone to a doctor for headaches or dizzy 

spells ( ) 

the PI selects a small group (in the above case 
57 men) which includes 70 per cent of all who 
would be discharged if the entire 1,000 were 
examined. Thus even though normal men were 
included, the amount of time necessary for 
psychiatric examinations could be greatly re¬ 
duced without overlooking a very large fraction 
of those men whom the psychiatrist would dis¬ 
charge if time permitted the examination of all 
recruits. If time of the psychiatrist is at a 


best. Even if neither answer fits you very well, mark the 

1 No ( ) 

2 I was an active child ( ) 

3 I have felt bad more from dizziness ( ) 

4 I avoid excitement ( ) 

5 I like to have people figure things out for me ( ) 

6 I am more easy going ( ) 

7 My free time always seemed to be filled ( ) 

8 I wish I could have a more responsible job ( ) 

9 I wish I weren’t bothered by bad dreams ( ) 

10 I wish I wouldn’t keep changing my mind ( ) 

11 I wish I wouldn’t keep putting things off ( ) 

12 I wish worrying wouldn’t make me sick to my stom¬ 
ach ( ) 

13 No ( ) 

14 No ( ) 

15 I have a poor appetite ( ) 

16 After exertion I feel dizzy ( ) 

17 When excited I feel stronger ( ) 

18 The sight of blood upsets me ( ) 

19 No ( ) 

20 I have occasionally gone to a doctor for headaches 

or dizzy spells ( ) 

items are those marked with an ( S ) in the final 
column of Table 1. The short form is given in 
its entirety in Table 6. 

Scoring Key 

All items of the short form are scored. Table 
7 shows the distribution of the critical ratios 
on two different populations. The correlation 
between the critical ratios determined in the 
two studies was .56. 


RESTRICTED 



THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 


43 


Table 7. Critical ratios of the items in the Personal 
Inventory, short form. 

Number 

Number 

Critical ratios (first study) 

(second study) 

2.5- 4.9 

1 

5.0- 7.4 3 

2 

7.5- 9.9 7 

4 

10.0-12.4 6 

7 

12.5-14.9 1 

5 

15.0-17.4 3 

1 

20 

20 

Table 8 . Reliability coefficients 

(odd-even, Spear- 

man-Brown corrected) for the Personal Inventory, 
short form. 

Group 

r t 

458 Newport recruits 

.66 

536 Newport recruits 

.68 

426 Amphibious Forces men 

.89* 

257 Newport discharges 

.91 


* This reliability coefficient was based on a first half-second half 
rather than an odd-even correlation. 


Reliability 

The short form proved to be as reliable as the 
long form. Table 8 shows the results from four 
groups of subjects. 


Validity 

The short form was shown to differentiate 
between normal men and discharges as satis¬ 
factorily as the long form. 9 ’ 12 Curves similar to 
those shown in Figure 1 for the long form are 
presented in Figure 2 for the short form. 

The data pictured in the upper curve of Fig¬ 
ure 2 were obtained in a nonpredictive situa¬ 
tion. The 263 discharges had already been so 
classified and the 538 normals had been ac¬ 
cepted for duty. The data pictured in the lower 
curve were obtained in a predictive situation. 
The PI was administered and the answer 
sheets filed. Not until after the men had been 
accepted or discharged were the papers scored 
and the scores compared with the disposition of 
the men. 

Comparison of the two curves in Figure 2, 
or the data in Table 9, shows less sharp differ¬ 
entiation in the predictive than in the nonpre¬ 
dictive situation. For example, using a cutting 
score of 7, it was found that 60 per cent of the 
discharges could be predicted correctly in ad¬ 
vance of the psychiatric interview at a cost of 
including 9.6 per cent of the normals. Using the 
same cutting score in a nonpredictive situation, 


Table 9. Cumulative percentage falling at and above each score on the Personal Inventory, short form, predictive 
and nonpredictive situations. 


Predictive use Nonpredictive use 

PI 458 normals 30 discharges 538 normals 263 discharges 


score 

N 

Cum. % 

N 

Cum. % 

N 

Cum. % 

N 

Cum. % 

20 

0 


0 


0 


0 


19 

1 

0.22 

0 


0 


5 

1.90 

18 

0 

0.22 

1 

3.33 

0 


14 

7.22 

17 

0 

0.22 

0 

3.33 

1 

0.19 

15 

12.93 

16 

0 

0.22 

0 

3.33 

0 

0.19 

17 

19.39 

15 

1 

0.44 

0 

3.33 

0 

0.19 

23 

28.14 

14 

1 

0.66 

2 

10.00 

2 

0.56 

18 

34.98 

13 

0 

0.66 

1 

13.33 

0 

0.56 

20 

42.59 

12 

0 

0.66 

0 

13.33 

1 

0.74 

10 

46.39 

11 

4 

1.53 

5 

30.00 

4 

1.49 

15 

52.09 

10 

6 

2.84 

3 

40.00 

7 

2.79 

24 

61.22 

9 

4 

3.71 

3 

50.00 

2 

3.16 

12 

65.78 

8 

9 

5.68 

1 

53.33 

7 

4.46 

8 

68.82 

7 

18 

9.61 

2 

60.00 

11 

6.51 

8 

71.86 

6 

22 

14.41 

0 

60.00 

37 

13.38 

11 

76.05 

5 

42 

23.58 

3 

70.00 

42 

21.19 

14 

81.37 

4 

55 

35.59 

1 

73.33 

63 

32.90 

7 

84.03 

3 

84 

53.93 

4 

86.67 

92 

50.00 

9 

87.45 

2 

94 

75.11 

1 

90.00 

124 

73.05 

18 

94.30 

1 

93 

94.76 

2 

96.67 

106 

92.75 

11 

98.48 

0 

24 

100.00 

1 

100.00 

39 

100.00 

4 

100.00 


RESTRICTED 















44 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 



Figure 2. Comparison of discriminative value of Personal Inventory, Short Form, in predictive and non- 
predictive use. 

This figure is to be interpreted in the same way as Figure 1. The curve for predictive use is based on 815 normals and 59 dis¬ 
charges; that for nonpredictive use on 538 normals and 263 discharges. Better differentiation was found in the nonpredictive than 
in the predictive situation. Compare with Figure 1 for relative discrimination value of long and short forms of PI. 


clearer differentiation between the two groups 
was achieved: 72 per cent of the discharges 
were identified at a cost of 6.4 per cent of the 
normals. But even the poorer differentiation 
shown in the predictive situation was as good 
as that shown in one of the nonpredictive 
studies using the long form (Figure 1). The 
usefulness of the short form in identifying an 
appreciable proportion of the psychiatrically 


undesirable men was unequivocally demon¬ 
strated. 

42 3 Agreement between Long and 
Short Forms 11 

The relation between the long and short 
forms was shown by a correlation of .84 be¬ 
tween scores made on the two forms by a group 


RESTRICTED 












































THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 


45 


of 426 men tested at the Amphibious Training 
Base, Solomons, Maryland. The correlation be¬ 
tween the long and short forms was essentially 
equal to the reliability of each. Furthermore, the 
two forms were equally valid. Choice between 
them became, therefore, largely a matter of 
preference. Both the long and the short forms 
continued in use throughout the war, with the 
Coast Guard and Maritime Service using the 
long form and the Navy adopting the short 
form (see Section 4.4). 


42 4 Comparison with GCT in Identify¬ 
ing Psychiatric Cases 11 

The General Classification Test (GCT) was 
already given to all Navy recruits. It was, 
therefore, important to determine whether the 
PI worked more efficiently in selecting men 


Table 10. Correlation between GCT and PI scores. 


Group 

r 

1,071 Newport recruits 

—.28 (old form GCT) 

89 Newport psychiatric 

discharges 

.01 (old form GCT) 

400 Submarine School 

candidates 

—.17 (Otis test) 

576 Amphibious Forces 

enlisted men 

—.35 (new form GCT) 

426 Amphibious Forces 

enlisted men 

—.25 (new form GCT) 

412 Newport recruits 

—.28 (old form GCT) 


who would be given psychiatric discharges than 
did the GCT. 

The correlation between PI scores and GCT 


scores varied from .01 to —.35. (The negative 
correlation was due to the fact that high scores 
on the GCT and low scores on the PI were con¬ 
sidered “good.”) The actual correlations for 
six groups are shown in Table 10. 

The PI was found to be more efficient than 
the GCT at any cutoff score in discriminating 
between normal men and those given psychiat¬ 
ric discharges. Table 11, for example, demon¬ 
strates that a score of 72 on the GCT identified 
60.7 per cent of the psychiatric discharges but 
included 42.4 per cent of the normals. A score of 
14 on the PI identified 59.6 per cent of the dis¬ 
charges and included 18.9 per cent of the nor¬ 
mals. Discrimination by the PI was obviously 
superior to that obtained by the GCT. 

The figures in Table 11 were obtained with 
the long form of the PI. No direct comparisons 
of the short form with the GCT are available. 
However, since the short form was found to 
correlate .84 with the long form, and since the 
two forms were shown to be approximately 
equal in validity and reliability, it seems highly 
probable that the short form, like the long one, 
is considerably more discriminative of psychiat- 
rically undesirable men than is the GCT. 


4 - 2 * 5 Validation against Other Criteria 

All validation discussed above was obtained 
against the criterion, psychiatric judgment. It 
would be highly desirable to be able to present 
validation against criteria of combat profi¬ 
ciency or to use as criteria other records 


Table 11. Comparison of identification of discharges by GCT (old form) score and PI score. For normals, iV = 307; 
for discharges, N = 89. 


GCT 

cutoff 

score 

Percentage 

discharges 

included 

Percentage 

normals 

included 

PI 

cutoff 

score 

Percentage 

discharges 

included 

Percentage 

normals 

included 

34 

10.1 

0.7 

37 

10.1 

0.0 

43 

20.2 

1.3 

29 

20.2 

0.0 

51 

30.3 

6.2 

24 

31.5 

0.3 

59 

38.2 

14.3 

20 

41.6 

2.3 

67 

50.6 

28.7 

17 

49.4 

6.2 

72 

60.7 

42.4 

14 

59.6 

18.9 

75 

70.8 

49.8 

12 

68.5 

30.3 

81 

79.8 

66.8 

10 

79.8 

49.8 

87 

91.0 

86.0 

7 

88.8 

74.6 

97 

100.0 

99.4 

2 

100.0 

99.7 


RESTRICTED 











46 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 


indicating how satisfactorily each man with¬ 
stood the pressures of military training and 
activity. Such criteria were extremely difficult 
to secure in any reliable form. An effort was, 
however, made to validate the PI against cri¬ 
teria other than the psychiatrist’s initial judg¬ 
ment. 

Comparison with Service Records 10 

One study compared PI scores with Service 
records one year after testing. The data are 
summarized in Table 12. The object of this 
study was to relate PI scores to the rating held 
one year after testing, to the conduct record 


The mean score for the discharges was 4.3 
points higher than for the active men (critical 
ratio 3.9). Of the seven men who scored 26 or 
over on the PI, all were discharged during the 
first year of service. 

2. The PI showed some tendency to differen¬ 
tiate between good and bad conduct cases. The 
mean score for the men with good conduct rec¬ 
ords was 1.7 points lower than for the men 
with some conduct offenses (critical ratio 4.1), 
and 2.8 points lower than for those with more 
serious offenses (critical ratio 4.6). 

3. The PI showed some tendency to differen¬ 
tiate rated from nonrated men. The mean 


Table 12. Relation between Navy Service records and scores on the PI. 


Group 

N 

Mean 

<7 

Sigma units 
of mean from 
general mean 

N 

Score of 

18 and above 

% 

Entire group 

1,466 

9.3 

4.6 


63 

4.3 

Nonrated men 

856 

10.0 

4.8 

+0.15 

51 

6.0 

Rated men 

609 

8.3 

4.2 

-0.22 

12 

2.0 

Nonoffenders 

1,328 

9.1 

4.6 

-0.04 

52 

3.9 

Offenders 

138 

10.8 

4.8 

+0.33 

11 

8.0 

Worst offenders 

64 

11.9 

4.7 

+0.57 

7 

10.9 

Active 

1,414 

9.2 

4.4 

-0.02 

52 

3.7 

Discharges 

52 

13.5 

8.1 

+0.91 

11 

21.2 


Critical ratios of differences between means 


Nonrated vs rated 6.1 

Nonoffenders vs offenders 4.1 

Nonoffenders vs worst offenders 4.6 

Active vs discharges 3 .9 


during the first year of enlistment, and to the 
active or discharge status one year after test¬ 
ing. The records of 1,466 men were examined. 
All had been accepted by the psychiatrists at 
the time of original testing and boot training. 
Complete records were available on 1,007 of 
these men. Separate analyses of the total group 
of 1,466 and of the 1,007 men for whom com¬ 
plete records were available were in all re¬ 
spects practically identical. The principal re¬ 
sults of the analyses of the total group were as 
follows: 

1. The PI identified a significant proportion 
of the 52 men who were later discharged. 
Twenty-one per cent of these men had received 
scores of 18 or above on the PI, as compared 
with but 4 per cent of those not discharged. 


score for the rated men was 1.7 points lower 
than for the nonrated men (critical ratio 6.1). 

4. The GCT tended to differentiate dis¬ 
charges from those still on active duty, but to 
a decidedly lesser extent than did the PI. It 
tended to differentiate conduct cases to a slight 
degree. It differentiated rated men from un¬ 
rated ones somewhat more sharply than did the 
PI. This may have been due in part to the 
availability of the GCT scores in the assign¬ 
ment of ratings. 

While this evidence shows some relations be¬ 
tween PI scores and records one year later of 
conduct, rating, and discharge status, PI scores 
would have little value in selecting men for 
advancement. The restricted range of scores in 
this population should, however, be remem- 


RESTRICTED 








THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 


47 


bered in considering these data. All men in¬ 
cluded in the study had been approved by the 
examining psychiatrists. What results would 
have been obtained on an unselected population 
is unknown. 

Use of the PI in Selecting Paratroopers 15 

A second investigation using a criterion 
other than psychiatric judgment studied the 
usefulness of the PI in predicting success or 
failure in the parachute school at Fort Ben- 
ning, Georgia. Of 1,079 men tested there with 
the PI, 778 successfully completed parachute 
training. The remaining 301 men fell into 13 
categories of failure. The four largest failure 
categories were: 89 men classified as having 
insufficient desire to continue training; 60 men 
who refused to jump from mock-up towers; 34 
men who were permanently disqualified physi¬ 
cally; and 67 men who were injured in training 
and temporarily disqualified for varying lengths 
of time. Some of these would be expected to 
complete training later and others would later 
be classified as permanently disqualified phys¬ 
ically. 

The biserial correlation between PI score 
and completion or failure to complete para¬ 
chute training was —.39. The correlation for 
the Army General Classification Test was .26. 
(The population was a normal Army group in 
terms of Army General Classification Test 
scores.) These two correlations can be com¬ 
bined into a multiple correlation of .41 with 
success in parachute training. On the basis of 
these findings, it appeared that the PI could 
contribute to the improved selection of men for 
parachute training, and that the PI would be 
as effective for this purpose alone as in combi¬ 
nation with the Army General Classification 
Test. 

Escape Tank Training 4 

A third attempt to validate the PI against 
a performance criterion used success in escape 
tank training at the Submarine School, New 
London, Connecticut, as a criterion. The sub¬ 
marine escape training tank is a circular metal 
tank 100 feet in height filled with fresh water 
at approximately 90 F. Men reporting for 
training in the use of the submarine escape 


appliance, the “lung,” are first given a brief 
physical examination. They are then placed in 
a decompression chamber where they are in¬ 
structed in the principles on which the lung 
operates. After the pressure is reduced to 
normal, the men are given lungs and further 
instructions in their use. The training itself 
consists of going down a ladder into the water 
and using the lung. Later each man is taken 
down to a depth of 12 feet in a diving bell. He 
is required to ascend to the surface on an 
escape line twice. Finally he is required to 
make two satisfactory escapes from a lock at 
an 18-foot depth. Many men also escape from 
the 50- and 100-foot locks, but this is not re¬ 
quired. About 1 y% per cent of the men appeared 
to be seriously disturbed emotionally. This dis¬ 
turbance was shown by letting go the line and 
rising rapidly to the surface; spitting out the 
mouthpiece of the lung; coming up too fast; 
refusing to leave an escape chamber; excessive 
complaining or other signs of emotional dis¬ 
turbance. 

The PI was found to have a tetrachoric cor¬ 
relation of .14 with tank failure. In combina¬ 
tion with other tests, a multiple correlation of 
.43 appeared, but the PI alone could not be 
used satisfactorily to predict success or failure 
in tank escape training. 

Selecting Submarine Personnel 18 

The PI and a number of other tests were ad¬ 
ministered to all men processed at the New 
London Submarine Base in 1943 and the early 
part of 1944. These test scores were later com¬ 
pared with trait ratings of the men made by 
submarine officers. 

Scores on the PI, and on the other selection 
tests also, were found to be unrelated to the 
quality of performance aboard submarines as 
it was rated by officers. The absence of correla¬ 
tion can be attributed to the unreliability of the 
criterion and to the fact that the sample of men 
studied was already selected with respect to 
mental, physical, and emotional characteristics. 

Under these same conditions, the psychia¬ 
trist's evaluations of men judged to be emo¬ 
tionally unstable were no more useful in 
predicting the criterion than were scores on 
the PI. 


RESTRICTED 



48 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 


426 Officers’ Personal Inventory 
Construction 

One form of the PI was constructed for use 
with officers. This form consists of 164 items. 
Forty-nine items were taken from the Long 
Form of the enlisted men’s PI with some 
changes in the wording of some items; the 
other 115 were new. In general format and in 
scoring method it was similar to the Long Form 
of the enlisted men’s PI. The officers’ PI is re¬ 
produced in the appendix. 

Scoring Key 13 

Arrangements were made for a validational 
study of the officers’ PI in the Amphibious 
Training Command, U. S. Atlantic Fleet. Two 
conditions made validation impossible. In eight 
months’ time only 83 officers were diagnosed as 
emotionally disqualified by the Boards of Medi¬ 
cal Examiners at the Amphibious Training 
Bases. Further, these Boards insisted on hav¬ 
ing access to the tentative PI scores at the time 
of their own examinations. The PI scores and 
the medical examiners’ ratings were therefore 
not independently arrived at. Consequently, the 
ratings could not be used as a basis for validat¬ 
ing the PI scores. 

The scores supplied to the Boards of Medical 
Examiners were based on a tentative 34-item 
scoring key. These 34 items are identical with 
ones contained in the scoring key of the long 
form of the PI used for enlisted men. Since the 
medical examiners did not have access to the 
individual answer sheets, they did not know 
how any man had answered the individual 
items. It was, therefore, possible to study the 
ability of each of the 164 items to discriminate 
between the 83 emotionally disqualified officers 
and a normal group of qualified officers. 
Thirteen hundred officers were included in the 
normal group. 

On the basis of item analysis comparisons 
between these two groups, a scoring key of 50 
items was constructed. Each of the 50 items 
showed a critical ratio of 3.96 or greater in 
differentiating between the emotionally dis¬ 
qualified and the qualified officers of this study. 
A cutoff score of 30 on this key identified 53 
per cent of the emotionally disqualified officers 


while including 2.6 per cent of the qualified 
officers. The odd-even reliability of this key is 
represented by a correlation coefficient of .88 
corrected by the Spearman-Brown formula. 
Further study involving the application of this 
key to new groups of emotionally qualified and 
disqualified officers will be needed to establish 
its validity. In such further study the diagnos¬ 
ing medical officers must be without knowledge 
of the inventory scores at the time of diagnosis 
if validity of the PI for officers is to be estab¬ 
lished. 

Predicting Success in Marine Corps 
Officer Candidate School 

A study 20 of the officers’ PI was conducted 
by the Medical Field Research Laboratory at 
Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, under better 
controlled conditions than were possible in the 
Amphibious Training Bases. At Camp LeJeune 
the officers’ PI was administered to 1,039 
Marine Corps officer candidates. Each man was 
tested within one week after arrival at Camp 
LeJeune for a period of military training and 
observation for screening purposes. All men 
had V-12 college training and all had just com¬ 
pleted 12 weeks of recruit training at Parris 
Island. A follow-up study was made on the sub¬ 
jects after they had either completed or failed 
to complete officer candidate school four or five 
months later. Test results were seen by no one 
not connected with the research staff. 

A scoring key was constructed using the 
items which best differentiated between those 
who completed and those who failed to com¬ 
plete officer candidate school. Using this scor¬ 
ing key on the same group of men on whom it 
was constructed showed a biserial correlation 
of .48 between PI scores and success or failure 
in officer candidate school. When this scoring 
key was applied to new groups of 757 candi¬ 
dates 21 and 671 candidates, 22 correlations of .18 
and .28 were found. For the two groups com¬ 
bined the correlation was .25. On these same 
groups the original NDRC-Navy scoring key 
correlated with the pass-fail criterion to the 
extent of .22 and .09. For the combined groups, 
the correlation was .16. These correlations in¬ 
dicate that the PI would not serve effectively 
as a single basis for selecting Marine Corps 


RESTRICTED 



OTHER METHODS OF SELECTING EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE MEN 


49 


officer candidates. It may prove useful as part 
of a selection battery, however. Tentative data 
on this possibility were secured by the Medical 
Field Research Laboratory, Camp LeJeune, 
North Carolina, which found a multiple corre¬ 
lation of .32 between the PI and a specially 
prepared confidential questionnaire and a pass- 
fail criterion in officer candidate school. 23 


4 3 OTHER METHODS OF SELECTING 
EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE MEN 

4-31 Tests Similar to the Personal 
Inventory 

New London-NDRC Questionnaire 

Reference 3 gives an analysis of the data 
obtained from testing 417 normal and 71 
psychiatric ward cases at the Newport Naval 
Training Station by means of the New London- 
NDRC Questionnaire developed under an 
NDRC Division 7 project. This questionnaire 
did not appear to be as effective as the PI in 
distinguishing between acceptable and unac¬ 
ceptable men. Information concerning this 
questionnaire and its trial use at the U. S. Sub¬ 
marine Base, New London, Connecticut, is 
contained in reference 2. 

The Cornell Selectee Index 

The Cornell Selectee Index was developed 
under the Committee on Medical Research of 
OSRD. It used a different type of question 
(e.g., Did you ever regularly drink more than 
three quarts of whiskey a week?). A 32-item 
edition of the Cornell Selectee Index and the 
short form of the PI were tried out under iden¬ 
tical conditions on 1,000 recruits at Newport 
Naval Training Station. Both tests were taken 
before the recruits were given psychiatric ex¬ 
aminations, but the scores were not available 
until after psychiatric disposition of the men 
was complete. In this purely predictive situa¬ 
tion, the PI identified 61 per cent of the dis¬ 
charged men at a cost of falsely identifying 14 
per cent of the normals. The Cornell Selectee 
Index picked up 67 per cent of the discharges 
and 19 per cent of the normals. Using the two 
tests together resulted in the correct identifi¬ 


cation by one or both of them of 82 per cent 
of the discharges and the false identification of 
24 per cent of the normals. [Letter from Com¬ 
manding Officer, U. S. Naval Training School, 
Newport, Rhode Island, to Chief, Bureau of 
Medicine and Surgery, March 3, 1944, Serial 
No. 14939, P2-5 (1A)]. 

The Enlisted Personal Inventory, Form 2, 
NavPers 16845, adopted for general Navy use, 
contains items from the Cornell Selectee Index 
in addition to the 20 items of the short form 
of the PI. 

The Personal Inventory, 

Army Air Forces Revision 

As part of the aviation psychology research 
program in the Army Air Forces, the Personal 
Inventory was revised for use in classification 
and redistribution of AAF officers and gunners. 
The history of the Aviation Psychology Pro¬ 
gram 24 contains an account of the development 
of several modified forms of the PI and of the 
satisfactory use of these modifications. 


4,3 2 Use of Battle Noise Equipment in 
Screening Psychiatrically Undesirable 
Personnel 14,17 

Section 17.3 of NDRC developed, at Navy 
request, an extremely high-power, high-fidelity 
sound reproducing system. Upon completion, 
this equipment, the Battle Noise Equipment, 
was assigned to the U. S. Naval Training Sta¬ 
tion, Newport, Rhode Island. The medical offi¬ 
cers there were directed to study its potential 
usefulness in screening out those men who 
would be so disturbed emotionally by the noise 
of battle that they would be ineffective in com¬ 
bat. Assistance of the Applied Psychology 
Panel in conducting these studies was re¬ 
quested. 

Sound records of battle action were played 
at intensities of 110 db and higher to groups 
of men whose reactions to the noise were 
studied. During the playing of any sound 
sequence the men were observed by a psychia¬ 
trist who watched for any obvious signs of dis¬ 
turbance. In some cases the signs were very 
obvious. A few men broke ranks and ran away. 


RESTRICTED 



50 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 


A few were taken directly to the psychiatric 
ward. Many more showed pallor, sweating, or 
other emotional signs. At the end of the noise 
exposure each man was asked to indicate, by 
holding up his hand or by writing on a card, 
which of a list of symptoms described by the 
experimenter he had experienced. 

Observations of this kind were made on nor¬ 
mal recruit groups and on men from the 
psychiatric ward. The sound was sometimes 
presented alone and sometimes as an accom¬ 
paniment to motion pictures of battle scenes. 
The motion pictures were shown to some men 
without noise. Finally, some men were not ex¬ 
posed to the pictures or the noise but were 
merely asked to check those symptoms they 
would feel if they heard the noises of battle. 

In each case the men were classified in 
accordance with the number of symptoms ex¬ 
hibited or reported. The resulting classification 
was then compared with the diagnosis arrived 
at in the regular psychiatric interview. 

It was found that the men’s reactions to the 
battle noise, either alone or with motion pic¬ 
tures of battle scenes, agreed fairly well with 
the results of the psychiatric interview. But 
it was also found that the men’s responses to 
the questions alone, without ever hearing the 
battle noises at all, served just as effectively 
in picking out those whom the psychiatrist con¬ 
sidered unfit for duty. 

Consequently no change in the psychiatric 
procedure was recommended and the battle 
noise equipment was not used for screening 
purposes. The Applied Psychology Panel 
recommended to the Navy that the equipment 
be used to give increased realism to some types 
of attack training. That recommendation was 
adopted and the equipment put to use in the 
Marine infiltration range at Camp Pendleton, 
California. 16 

44 SERVICE USE OF THE PERSONAL 
INVENTORY 

4,4,1 Possible Uses 

The Personal Inventory might be used by the 
military Services in either of two ways: as a 
method of selecting men for special types of 


duty, or as a psychiatric screen for picking out 
those who should be given more detailed ex¬ 
amination. In view of the criteria which were 
available for validating the PI, there was little 
justification for using it as the basis for select¬ 
ing men for special duty without further study. 
There was much justification for using it as a 
psychiatric screen. 

In many installations the medical staff was 
not able to give thorough psychiatric inter¬ 
views to every man passing through the in¬ 
stallation. In such situations the PI provided a 
method of picking out a small group which 
contained most of the men who would have 
been discharged if time had permitted the care¬ 
ful examination of all men. Results obtained by 
using the short form of the PI in this fashion 
are presented in Table 13. This table is based 
on experience with a wartime recruit popula¬ 
tion in which about 5 per cent of the men were 
given psychiatric discharges. At other times, 
and with other groups, the absolute figures 
would differ throughout the table. But the prin¬ 
ciple of saving time by selecting for interview 
those men most likely to be rejected is appli¬ 
cable generally. 

Table 13 shows the saving in interview time 
which can be achieved by using the PI as a 
preliminary screen. For example, at a cutting 
score of 7, 156 men out of each 1,000 examined 
would be identified for interview. Of these 156 
men, 32 would be discharged. These 32 consti¬ 
tute about 60 per cent of the total number of 
men who would be discharged had the whole 
1,000 been examined. Thus 60 per cent of the 
potential discharges can be identified by a 
process which requires interviewing only 16 
per cent of the entire population. If the psychi¬ 
atric examining facilities allow careful exami¬ 
nation of a larger fraction of the total flow of 
men, a lower cutting score can be adopted. For 
example, a score of 5 would require examining 
308 of the 1,000 men. That group of 308 would 
contain 70 per cent of all who would be dis¬ 
charged if the whole 1,000 were examined. 
Using the information contained in Table 13, 
it is possible to adjust the cutting score in 
terms of the total number of men passing 
through a station and the time available for 
psychiatric examinations. 


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SERVICE USE OF THE PERSONAL INVENTORY 


51 


4,4 2 Psychiatric Endorsement 

Use of the Personal Inventory was endorsed 
by the Subcommittee on Psychiatry of the Na¬ 
tional Research Council's Division of Medical 
Sciences at a meeting on June 29, 1944, in a 
resolution which contained the following rec¬ 
ommendations : 

“NOW THEREFORE BE IT RECOM- 


Ground Forces, and the Marine Corps. One or 
more forms were adopted for routine screening 
purposes by the U. S. Navv, Coast Guard, and 
Maritime Service. A special form was developed 
by the Army Air Forces 24 (see Section 4.3.1). 

Format A (the long form with a scoring 
system giving separate scores on each of 20 
clusters of items) was adopted as part of the 
routine selection procedure at the U. S. Sub- 


Table 13. 


Efficiency of the Personal Inventory in reducing the number of men to be interviewed. 



Number identified 


Number not interviewed, 

Cutting 

for interview per 

Number interviewees 

who would be discharged 

score 

1,000 

to be discharged 

had they been interviewed 


20 

0 

0 

53 

19 

2 

0 

53 

18 

4 

2 

51 

17 

4 

2 

51 

16 

4 

2 

51 

15 

5 

2 

51 

14 

12 

5 

48 

13 

16 

7 

46 

12 

19 

7 

46 

11 

39 

16 

37 

10 

56 

21 

32 

9 

79 

26 

27 

8 

110 

28 

25 

7 

156 

32 

21 

6 

212 

32 

21 

5 

308 

37 

16 

4 

422 

39 

14 

3 

594 

46 

7 

2 

786 

47 

6 

1 

956 

51 

2 

0 

1,000 

53 

0 


MENDED that these methods be put to use 
as widely as possible in the military services, 
and that further studies along these lines be 
continued and extended with a view to the 
progressive improvement and refinement of 
these tests in the light of validating data 
from actual performance under conditions of 
military service and combat; 

BE IT FURTHER RECOMMENDED that 
tests of a similar nature be developed for 
use in the selection of personnel for all types 
of special assignment.” 

Service Adoptions of the PI 

The PI was used experimentally in a number 
of places by the Navy, Coast Guard, U. S. 
Maritime Service, Army Air Forces, Army 


marine Base, New London, Connecticut. On 
May 22, 1944, a directive from the Bureau of 
Naval Personnel specified a score of 14 or lower 
on Format B for admission to Submarine 
School. 

Format B (the long form with a simpler 
scoring procedure giving only one score) was 
adopted as part of the routine selection pro¬ 
cedure at the U. S. Navy Intercept Officer 
Training School at St. Simons Island, Georgia; 
at the U. S. Maritime Service Training Sta¬ 
tions located at Sheepshead Bay, New York; 
Catalina Island, California; and St. Peters¬ 
burg, Florida; and in the U. S. Coast Guard 
classification centers. 

On January 24, 1945, the Director of Enlisted 
Personnel wrote to the commanders and com¬ 
manding officers of some 50 receiving stations, 


RESTRICTED 







52 


ELIMINATING THE EMOTIONALLY UNFIT 


naval training centers, and training schools in¬ 
forming them that the short form of the 
PI (Enlisted Personal Inventory, Form 2, 
NavPers 16845) “has been adopted by this Bu¬ 
reau to aid in identifying enlisted personnel 
who lack the emotional stability required by 
submarine and amphibious duty.” “Men mak¬ 
ing scores of 8 or higher . . . are ineligible for 
transfer to Submarine School, New London.” 
Instructions were given to make careful psy¬ 
chiatric examinations of all men in the Am¬ 
phibious Forces making scores of 10 or above. 

The Officers’ Personal Inventory was not 
adopted for routine use in any Service. 

45 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 

FURTHER WORK 

The PI worked more successfully in military 
selection than it will in selecting civilians for 
peacetime jobs. On all personality tests of this 
type it is possible for a man to make a higher 
or a lower score than he deserves, for the nor¬ 
mal, nonsymptomatic answers to the questions 
are sometimes fairly obvious. The most prob¬ 
able civilian use of the PI would be in selecting 
men for positions for which the men them¬ 
selves apply. Under these conditions there will 
be considerable temptation to give “normal” 
answers to the questions and thus to make a 
better score than is deserved. 

In wartime the motivation is to a large ex¬ 
tent reversed. Some men answer the questions 
in such a way as to make a poorer or less nor¬ 
mal score than they otherwise would, hoping 
thereby to avoid military duty and particu¬ 
larly the more hazardous types of duty. The 
PI, consequently, lumps together those who are 
really emotionally unstable and those who are 
willing to admit more psychiatric symptoms 


than they normally exhibit. Since both of these 
groups should be examined in detail by the 
psychiatrists, this grouping is not a serious 
fault in military use of the PI. 

The distinction between wartime and peace¬ 
time conditions of use of this test is pointed 
out here to warn against any expectation that 
the success of the PI in screening out men 
unsuitable for military duty can be duplicated 
in peacetime industrial situations. How well it 
will work in peacetime military situations re¬ 
mains to be seen. 

Efforts to construct personality tests which 
are completely free from the possibility of fak¬ 
ing have met with little success. Nevertheless 
these efforts should be continued. Tests of emo¬ 
tional stability and personality traits could be 
used with much greater confidence if the men 
being tested were unable to secure better scores 
than they deserve by giving false answers to 
the test items. 

The PI was originally intended as a means 
of predicting a man’s ability to perform satis¬ 
factorily in hazardous duty or in situations re¬ 
quiring great emotional stability. In practice it 
became a device for predicting what a psychia¬ 
trist would say about a man on the basis of a 
short interview. A thoroughgoing validation of 
the psychiatrist’s own judgment is needed. Fu¬ 
ture work on instruments similar to the PI 
should be accompanied by parallel studies of 
the psychiatrists’ judgment. Both of these 
methods of predicting a man’s emotional sta¬ 
bility should be validated against an independ¬ 
ent criterion, preferably one based on combat 
performance. The difficulty of securing such 
criteria is great, but that difficulty must be 
overcome if instruments similar to the PI are 
to develop beyond the stage of being predictors 
of the unvalidated judgment of the psychia¬ 
trist. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 5 

DETERMINING VOCATIONAL INTERESTS 

By Dael Wolfle a 


Summary 

A n inventory of interests was constructed 
. for possible use in the classification of 
military personnel. The inventory was in¬ 
tended to secure information on a wide variety 
of interests, e.g., vocational, social, recrea¬ 
tional, scientific, and religious. Information of 
this type could provide a valuable supplement 
to that obtained by interviews, vocational his¬ 
tory, or standarized tests of ability, in classify¬ 
ing men for military duty. 

The interest inventory, a scoring key, and 
detailed statistical information were turned 
over to the War Department Adjutant Gen¬ 
eral's Office. The inventory has some ad¬ 
vantages over other existing interest ques¬ 
tionnaires. It has not yet been validated for 
military personnel. 

51 INTRODUCTION 

Information regarding a man’s interests 
combined with information about his ability 
ought to provide a better basis for job assign¬ 
ment than would either type of information 
alone. Previous attempts to secure information 
about interests in standardized and comparable 
form were not considered satisfactory for mili¬ 
tary use. The Adjutant General’s Office there¬ 
fore requested the Applied Psychology Panel to 
construct an interest inventory for use in the 
classification of military personnel. The work 
was assigned, as Project SOS-7, to a contract 
with Harvard University. 

52 THE ACTIVITY-PREFERENCE TEST 
Construction of Items 

Several paper-and-pencil tests of interest 
were already in existence at the time this 
project work began. The two most widely used 
were those developed by E. K. Strong and G. F. 

a This chapter is based entirely on the final report of 
Project SOS-7. 1 


Kuder. Both attempted to determine a man’s 
interests by asking a number of questions 
about the activities which he liked or disliked. 
Typical of the Strong Vocational Interest 
Blank for Men was a list of related items 
(such as hobbies or school subjects). The sub¬ 
ject marked each to show whether he liked, dis¬ 
liked, or was indifferent to that activity 
(hobby, school subject, etc.). The Kuder Pref¬ 
erence Record consisted of paired items, or 
groups of three items. The subject indicated 
the most and least preferred activity within 
each group. 

The Activity-Preference Test differed from 
both earlier tests in several respects, although 
it continued the tradition of attempting to de¬ 
termine general types and fields of interests by 
asking a series of questions on quite specific 
likes and dislikes. It differed in attempting to 
cover a wider range of activities; in attempting 
to make the items compared more directly com¬ 
petitive with each other in terms of time, cost, 
and opportunity than was true of the earlier 
tests; and in including questions on biographi¬ 
cal background and attitudes toward oneself. 

The Activity-Preference Test contained a 
total of 220 exercises. Each exercise, except for 
items of factual information included in Sec¬ 
tion I, consisted of four alternative statements, 
each of which described an activity or situa¬ 
tion. Taking the test required selecting the 
most liked and the least liked one of the four 
activities described, or selecting the most likely 
and the least likely behavior or response under 
the conditions stated. The item form was, 
therefore, similar to that used in the Kuder 
Preference Record. Two examples are: 

Upon a free afternoon, which of the following would 
you like MOST and which would you like LEAST? 

Exercise 74: 

A. to go to a vaudeville show 

B. to help organize a Boy Scout Troop 

C. to take part in a play 

D. to take the family out for a picnic 

Think of some situation in the past few years in 


RESTRICTED 


53 



54 


DETERMINING VOCATIONAL INTERESTS 


which you have succeeded markedly. Which of these do 
you think was MOST and which do you think was 
LEAST responsible for the success? 

Exercise 22: 

A. I always worked hard to earn quick money. 

B. I had an excellent memory for people’s faces. 

C. I was not timid in making constructive sugges¬ 
tions. 

D. I put more energy than most people into getting 
a job done. 

The 220 exercises were divided into seven 
sections. 

Section I (10 exercises) covered biographi¬ 
cal information concerning the person when he 
was 15!/2 years old. 

Sections II and V (15 exercises each) cov¬ 
ered preferences and interests as they existed 
at age 15V2- 

Sections III and VI (75 exercises each) cov¬ 
ered preferences at the time of taking the in¬ 
ventory. 

Sections IV and VII (15 items each) re¬ 
quired the subject to look ahead to the time 
when he would be 48 years old and to indicate 
the activities which he expected to prefer at 
that age. 

Two forms of the inventory contained the 
same exercises, but in different orders. 

The like most-like least form required two 
responses to every exercise and thereby 
avoided the systematic error consequent to a 
rosy or blue outlook which in other interest 
tests has resulted in excessive marking of 
things as being “liked” or as being “not liked.” 
There may be a “general liking of things” 
function, and in some connections it may be 
important. The present instrument had evi¬ 
dence upon this only in the first, or biographi¬ 
cal, section. Even though one person “likes 
most everything” more than a second, still the 
lesser level of intensity of feeling of the second 
person is the intensity level that dictates his 
conduct. His contrasting interests at the low 
level may well be just as important in deter¬ 
mining his vocational preference as the more 
intense level of the first person. A choice must 
be made, no matter at what level. 

The four options within each exercise were 
very carefully devised so that for the average 
person there is no moral issue, or right or 
wrong, or good or bad choice, involved. Any 


expression of interest can be falsified, but if 
the subject sees no reason for dissimulation, 
and if there is no earmarked “right” or 
“wrong” answer, an honest expression of con¬ 
viction can be expected. It is true that an in¬ 
telligent person can produce an answer sheet 
which is biased in a direction which has been 
chosen by the person if he is so inclined. Such 
bias is not as great as might be expected be¬ 
cause of the subtlety of the scoring schemes. 
The internal evidence suggested that a useful 
falsification—useful in the sense desired by the 
subject—of the activity-preference record is 
measurably less with this instrument than with 
any of the other commonly available interest 
tests. This difficulty of falsification was accom¬ 
plished by the form employed and by the care 
directed to this issue in the construction of 
exercises. 

As a general interest measure serving all 
subjects, the exercises were devised to sample 
as nearly as possible all fields of life in which 
preferences can be shown. A careful scrutiny 
was made of the waking activities of the entire 
day and of the seasons, spring, summer, fall, 
and winter; of the social contacts of life from 
the narrowest social group, the home, to the 
widest; of the earliest age (chosen as age 
15V 2 ) involving the maturity and initial out¬ 
looks of adulthood, and of the last age presum¬ 
ably thought of as still in full prime (chosen 
as age 48). The results of these surveys were 
reflected in the wide variety of exercises in¬ 
cluded in the inventory. 

It was also set down as a requirement that 
the four options constituting an exercise 
should be genuinely competitive. A subject was 
not asked to express a preference between a 
trip to Mexico, requiring much time and 
money, and seeing a football game, or to ex¬ 
press a preference between swimming and 
skating, or between other activities which in 
the nature of things do not simultaneously 
claim attention. 

Types of Interests Covered 

The 220 exercises were planned to secure in¬ 
formation on 40 different types of interests 
(rubrics). These were: 


RESTRICTED 



THE ACTIVITY-PREFERENCE TEST 


55 


Rubric No. Description 

1 Things and mechanisms (not a repetitive 

or routine use). 

Spatial thinking (visual-mindedness). 

3 Calculation, computation, number facility 

(not symbolic thinking). 

4 Orderliness, system, organization, regimen¬ 

tation. 

5 Routine, undisturbing activities vs desire 

for change, variety, and suspense. 

6 Monetary motivation and personally gain¬ 

ful activity. 

7 Masculinity-femininity. 

8 Family and neighborhood. 

9 Adventure, daring, risk vs self-security, 

timidity. 

10 Power (the leadership involving or based 

upon control) vs submission and satis¬ 
faction in position of menial servitude. 

11 Gross physical activity in work and/or 

play. 

12 Fine dextrous activity and craftsmanship. 

13 Gregarious—bold and forward vs shy. 

14 Handling people for their own presumed 

good. 

15 Independent, self-sufficient vs gregarious. 

16 Memory activity. 

17 Pioneering and initiative (leadership based 

thereon) vs traditionalism. 

18 Instructing, advising, supervising. 

19 Salesmanship (not over-the-counter). 

20 Verbal expression—oral and written. 

21 Vocational level from professional to labor. 

22 Verbal reception: reading and hearing. 

23 Competitiveness. 

24 Humor. 

25 Music: participation and appreciation. 

26 Arts: graphic, plastic, artistic: participa¬ 

tion and appreciation. 

27 Abstract vs concrete thinking. 

28 Experimental verification vs fiat and 

a priori conviction. 

29 Principal and suspended judgment vs im¬ 

pulse, instinct, sensuousness. 

30 Practical reality vs fantasy. 

31 Acting. 

32 Religion and idealism. 

33 Self-confidence vs tendency to worry. 

34 Emotionality vs stolidity. 

35 Perseverance and industry vs laziness and 

shillyshallying. 

36 Outdoor vs indoor work, play, and amuse¬ 

ment. 

37 Plants and animals. 

38 Integrated behavior vs neuroticism and 

compensatory adjustments. 

39 Aesthetic and synaesthetic responsiveness. 

40 Vehement, explosive, violent vs restrained, 

calm, quiet. 

An a priori set of scoring weights was made 
up which permitted the tabulation of scores on 
each of these 40 rubrics. Each rubric score was 
obtained by totaling the weights assigned to 


each answer of each exercise considered appro¬ 
priate for that rubric. 


First Administration 

The Adjutant General’s Office arranged to 
administer the Activity-Preference Test to 
groups of enlisted men at three Army training 
centers. A total of 3,734 men was tested. 
Papers from a subgroup of 2,201 men all born 
in the years 1918 to 1925 were used for subse¬ 
quent statistical analysis. 


Item Study 

Reliabilities of the rubric scores were com¬ 
puted using a priori weights for the data from 
Sections III and VI (total of 150 exercises at 
present age). The reliabilities of the separate 
scores ranged from .00 to .79. Eliminating the 
least reliable rubrics reduced their number to 
34. The range of uncorrected reliabilities for 
the retained rubrics was .26 to .79. 

Refined sets of scoring weights were obtained 
for 15 rubrics by analyzing the responses to 
each exercise scored for each of these 15 ru¬ 
brics. The reliabilities of the scores based on 
refined weights for the exercises in Sections III 
and VI ranged from .50 to .84. 

Estimated rubric reliabilities for the entire 
inventory ranged from .55 to .89, with a median 
of .75. 


Factor Analysis 

The variances for the 34 retained rubrics 
were adjusted in terms of the judged impor¬ 
tance of each. The covariances were modified 
accordingly. The matrix of these adjusted vari¬ 
ances and covariances was analyzed by the 
method of principal components. The matrix 
was analyzed into 34 components, the first five 
of which accounted for 72.31 per cent of the 
total variance. 

The full meaning of these components de¬ 
pends upon their relations to success in a variety 
of occupations. Any formal naming of them is 


RESTRICTED 





56 


DETERMINING VOCATIONAL INTERESTS 


difficult and likely to be misleading until a large 
amount of knowledge of their vocational rela¬ 
tions and usefulness accumulates. The desig¬ 
nations listed below were intended only for 
purposes of identification. Following each, the 
component variance is given, and then an indi¬ 
cation of the predominant rubrics or personal 
characteristics important in each component. 

MI MSEC, the first component (36.41) 

M Masculine 

I Isolationists (prefers being alone) 

M Mechanical 


S Social 
E Effeminate 
C Conversational 

PEPGAP, the second component (14.60) 

P Persevering and pioneering 
E Economic 

P Practical and interest in power 

G Gross (rough or boisterous, as opposed to refined) 

A Adventurous and daring 

P Physical activity (interest in) 

PAMRIM, the third component (10.37) 

P Power and gross physical activity (interest in) 

A Aggressive (salesmanship and competition) 

M Money (interest in) 

R Religious 
I Industrious 

M Music, mechanisms, and craftsmanship (interest in) 

ROD POD, the fourth component (5.71) 

R Routine and religion (interest in) 

O Orderly 
D Domestic 


P Pioneering (interest in) 

O Outdoors (interest in) 

D Daring 

NEVCOM, the fifth component (5.23) 

N Nature-loving 
E ' 

Y | EVangelistic—religion with salesmanship 

C ) Interest in general COMpetence, that is, positive 
O ( weightings of power, vocational level, mechanisms, 
M f spatial, orderliness, verbal reception and expression, 
' and music. 

The names given to the components were 
each of two syllables which are equally well 
pronounced together if reversed, the first re¬ 
lated to the rubrics having positive weightings 
in the component and the second to those having 
negative weightings. A person scoring high on 
the first component may be called a mimsec, and 
one scoring low a secmim person. The letters 
mini are related to rubrics with positive weight¬ 
ings, and the letters sec to rubrics with negative 


weightings. To those initiated into the nature 
and uses of this preference instrument, these 
letters may provide reasonable but very tenta¬ 
tive pegs around which to build a more com¬ 
plete picture, and to the uninitiated (in general 
the person taking the test for the first time) 
these words will be harmless in that none of 
them suggest a type of “expected” or “right” 
response. 

5 2 6 Preparation of Scoring Key 

A final scoring key for each of the five prin¬ 
cipal components was constructed. Each item 
in Sections III and VI was assigned a weight 
within the range of —4 to +4, and each item 
in Sections I, II, IV, V, and VII a weight within 
the range of —6 to +6. For any one of the five 
components, most of the item weights were 
zero. 

The reliabilities of the five component scores 
are shown in Table 1. These reliabilities were 
determined by correlating scores on one half 
of the indicated section or sections with scores 
on the other half of the indicated section or 
sections and then stepping up by the Spearman- 
Brown formula. 


Table 1. Reliabilities of component scores.* (iV=200). 


Components 

I 

Sections of test 

II & III & 

V VI 

IV & 
VII 

Total 

test 

I 

MIMSEC 

.77 

.87 

.86 

.79 

.94 

II 

PEPGAP 

.54 

.67 

.83 

.56 

.86 

III 

PAMRIM 

.80 

.76 

.87 

.51 

.91 

IV 

RODPOD 

.83 

.83 

.78 

.53 

.89 

V 

NEVCOM 

.76 

.61 

.61 

.55 

.77 


* It was estimated that with refined weightings for the items in Sections 
III and VI, the reliabilities of the several components for the entire instru¬ 
ment would be .96 for Component I; .89 for Component II; .93 for Com¬ 
ponent III; .89 for Component IV; and .81 for Component V. 

The reliabilities are high enough to justify 
separating the inventory, for some purposes, 
into two equivalent tests, each half as long as 
the original. The estimated reliabilities of a 
half-length test for each component score 
would be: 

MIMSEC = .89 
PEPGAP = .75 
PAMRIM = .84 
RODPOD - .80 
NEVCOM = .63 


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THE ACTIVITY-PREFERENCE TEST 


57 


Final Disposition 

The test, a table of scoring weights for the 
five components, and detailed statistical infor¬ 
mation concerning the test and the factor anal¬ 
ysis were submitted, by request, to the Office of 
the Adjutant General at the end of 1944. That 
office had agreed to be responsible for validating 
the test and for conducting such additional sta¬ 
tistical analysis of the data as seemed desirable 
and useful. 


The pressure of other duties prevented the 
Personnel Research Section, AGO, from com¬ 
pleting this work. It remained, at the end of 
the war, in the form in which the Applied Psy¬ 
chology Panel turned it over to the Army. The 
individual items are promising in that they 
have no easily picked out “right” answers. But 
considerable further work will eventually be 
required to determine how and under what 
conditions it can be best used to aid in the 
classification of Service personnel. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 6 

THE SELECTION OF RADIO CODE OPERATORS 

By Dael Wolfle a 


Summary 

A t navy request the Applied Psychology 
L Panel developed an improved test of radio 
code aptitude. The test first requires the subject 
to learn three simple characters of the radio 
code and then measures his ability to differen¬ 
tiate these characters as they are sent at faster 
and faster speeds. 

The test was demonstrated to have a validity 
of .50 and to be superior to all other available 
code aptitude tests. It was officially adopted by 
both Army and Navy for use in the selection of 
men for radio code training. 


61 INTRODUCTION 

The process of acquiring skill in the recep¬ 
tion of International Morse Code can be broken 
down into two phases. In the first phase the 
student learns 36 characters representing the 
alphabet and the digits. This task is relatively 
simple and ordinarily requires only a few hours 
or at most a few days of practice. In the second 
phase the student must learn to respond cor¬ 
rectly to the characters when they are sent 
more and more rapidly. Ordinarily from 10 to 
20 weeks of practice are required before the 
student acquires enough speed and skill to be¬ 
come a useful operator. 

Some men fail to learn the individual char¬ 
acters satisfactorily, and many who do learn 
them fail to acquire sufficient speed to be use¬ 
ful as military or commercial operators. The 
result is a high attrition rate unless the stu¬ 
dents are very carefully preselected for code 
learning ability. Failure rates as high as 40 to 
50 per cent were found in some schools early 
in World War II. 

The problem of selecting code operators be¬ 
came apparent in World War I, and efforts 

a This chapter is based primarily upon the work of 
NDRC Project N-107. 


were made at that time to develop suitable tests 
for that purpose. One of the tests developed 
then became standardized as the Signal Corps 
Code Aptitude Test (SCCAT) early in the 
nineteen-twenties. It remained as the standard 
selection test until after World War II began. 
Its low validity made the need for a better test 
obvious. 

When the Committee on Service Personnel— 
Selection and Training was organized in June 
1942, one of its early requests was to establish 
a research project on the selection and training 
of radio code operators for the Navy. The di¬ 
rective specifically ordered that research should 
be conducted to improve the techniques of se¬ 
lecting personnel for assignment to radio code 
instruction. The request was accepted and 
assigned to the Psychological Corporation, as 
the contractor, as NDRC Project N-107. At¬ 
tempts to build better code tests were being 
made at the same time by other groups, both 
military and civilian. 


6.2 TYPES OF CODE APTITUDE TESTS 

Three chief types of code aptitude tests have 
been tried. • 

1. Discrimination tests measure the ability 
of the subject to distinguish between complex 
rhythmic patterns of dots and dashes. SCCAT 
is the best known example. 

2. Code learning tests measure the ability 
of the subject to learn code characters. The test 
developed by L. L. Thurstone and an Army test 
(ROA-2) are examples. 

3. Speed of response tests measure the ability 
to copy a few easily learned code characters at 
rapid rates of transmission. The NDRC Speed 
of Response (SOR) test is the best example. 

The NDRC project worked with all three 
types. Preliminary results showed the third to 
be most promising, so work was concentrated 
on the development of a speed of response test. 


58 


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THE NDRC SPEED OF RESPONSE TEST OF CODE APTITUDE 


59 


63 THE NDRC SPEED OF RESPONSE 
TEST OF CODE APTITUDE 4 

631 Development 

The idea for this type of test came from 
Biegel. 6 After introducing his students to the 
radio code characters, he presented signals to 
them in groups of 30, with less and less space 
between the individual characters in the suc¬ 
cessive groups. His test was long, apparently 
consisting of 900 characters in addition to the 
introductory learning series. Further, it was 
administered three times in order to increase 
its reliability. His data indicated that it ap¬ 
peared to have a reasonably high value in pre¬ 
dicting subsequent achievement in radio code 
classes. 

A speed of response type of test has two 
parts. First, there is a learning unit in which 
the subjects are taught a few characters. There 
have been several opinions as to the degree of 
difficulty of the letters to be taught. NDRC 
Project N-107 finally chose three very easy 
characters on the principle that it was desir¬ 
able to have nearly all the subjects able to copy 
the characters at a slow speed of presentation, 
so that the test itself would be almost entirely 
of the ability to respond quickly to these signals. 
Second, there is a testing unit in which the sub¬ 
jects are tested on these learned characters at 
increasingly faster rates of presentation. 

In the first edition the letters D (-..), S 
(...) and R (. ..) were used. After these 
three letters were learned, the test itself began. 
It consisted of the three letters, D, S, and R, 
sent in random order, first at slow speeds and 


then more and more rapidly until the fastest 
speed was reached. It was then repeated in re¬ 
verse order going from the faster down to the 
slower speeds, with the slowest speed omitted. 

This initial form was found to have consid¬ 
erable predictive ability, but it contained a 
number of faults. The test was too long. The 
initial part, however, was too short; some of 
the students failed to learn the three characters 
well enough to distinguish them properly even 
at the slowest speed. 

Form 2 attempted to correct these faults by 
using three easier letters, I (. .), N (-.), and 
T (-), by increasing the amount of learning 
drill, and by shortening the test itself. 

The test went through two other preliminary 
editions in which refinements were made and 
in which it was adapted to machine scoring. 
Final editions were prepared, one for the Army 
and one for the Navy, a manual of instructions 
was written, 3 and the SOR was put into routine 
use for selecting radio operators for military 
duty. 


632 Validity 

Several criteria can be used to determine the 
validity of a code aptitude test. The final grade 
assigned in code school usually depends upon 
several factors, only one of which is code re¬ 
ceiving speed. Even so it has been used in some 
studies, as has the dichotomous criterion of 
failing or passing the course. Code receiving 
speed as determined by school examinations 
has also been used. The chief difficulty with this 
criterion is that both test content and admin- 


Table 1. Validity of Speed of Response Test. 


Study 

conducted by 

Criterion 

used 

Weeks of 
instruction 

No. of 
classes 

No. of 

men 

Median 

validity 

coefficient 

NDRC 

CRT 

5 

2 

216 

.30 

NDRC 

CRT 

8 

10 

1,932 

.34 

Army 

CRT 

7-8 

4 

178 

.41 

Army 

Code speed 

7-8 

4 

221 

.55 

Navy 

Code speed 

14 

1 

185 

.37 

Navy 

Pass-fail* 

14 

1 

299 

.49 

Thurstone 

Code speed* 

6 

1 

215 

.61 

Thurstone 

Pass-fail* 

16 

1 

196 

.57 


*Biserial correlation; others were Pearson correlations 


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60 


THE SELECTION OF RADIO CODE OPERATORS 


istration procedures vary from school to school. 
In order to provide a standardized criterion, 
Project N-107 developed the Code Receiving 
Test (CRT). 1 - 2 This test consisted of phono- 

57% 


] HIGH SCORES ON SOR 
III INTERMEDIATE SCORES ON S 0 R 
| LOW SCORES ON SOR 



14 GPM OR 12 GPM OR 8 GPM OR ELIMINATED 

BETTER BETTER BETTER DURING FIRST 

EIGHT WEEKS 


Figure 1. Relation between scores on Speed of 
Response Test and performance in radio code 
school. 

Men were first classified as high (10 to 15 per cent of 
sample), intermediate (10 to 15 per cent), or low (70 to 
80 per cent) in terms of score on SOR. The vertical bars 
show the percentage of each group having code speeds, after 
eight weeks of training, shown at the bottom of the figure. 

For example, 12 per cent of the high-score group, but only 
3 per cent of the low-score group, had achieved speeds of 
14 groups per minute or higher. N = 1,001. 

graphically recorded instructions, practice ex¬ 
ercises, and test content. The test content con¬ 
sisted of five-character groups in which the 36 
characters each appeared with equal frequency. 
Letters and numbers were presented in a purely 
random order, so they frequently occurred in 
the same group. CRT was therefore more diffi¬ 
cult than the usual school test of receiving 
speed; a speed of 14 groups per minute being 
the equivalent of 20 words per minute of plain 
language material. The entire set of CRT rec¬ 
ords included tests at 12 speeds varying from 
4 to 25 groups per minute. 

The validity of SOR was determined by sev¬ 
eral investigators, using different criteria, on 
different groups of subjects, and after different 


amounts of code instruction. Eight of the re¬ 
sulting validity coefficients are reproduced in 
Table 1. They range from .30 to .61, with half 
of them .49 or higher. The validity shown by 
these correlations was considerably higher than 
that of the Signal Corps Code Aptitude Test 
which had been the standard selection test for 
approximately 20 years. 

Validity of the SOR is shown in terms of 
practical usefulness in predicting code school 
success in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 analyzes 
the records of 1,001 men after eight weeks of 
training. The men in the class who had achieved 
speeds of 14 groups per minute or better, those 
who had achieved 12 groups per minute or 
better, those who had not yet gotten better 
than 8 groups per minute, and those who had 



Low Int. High All 

Figure 2. Speed of Response Test scores and code 
speed after 12 weeks of training. 

The distribution of code speeds attained in 12 weeks of 
training is shown for three groups of men classified accord¬ 
ing to their SOR scores and for the total group of 616 men. 

Low—bottom 70 to 80 per cent in SOR scores 
Int.—next 10 to 15 per cent in SOR scores 
High—top 10 to 15 per cent in SOR scores 
All—the three groups combined 

already been eliminated from code school are 
shown, divided according to whether their SOR 
test scores were high, intermediate, or low. 
Validity of the test is shown by the fact that 


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THE NDRC SPEED OF RESPONSE TEST OF CODE APTITUDE 


61 


men who made high SOR scores more frequently 
attained high speeds, and were less frequently 
found in the poor groups, than men whose SOR 
scores were intermediate or low. 

In Figure 2, results are shown in a different 
way for 616 men after 12 weeks of code train¬ 
ing. Again, the men making high SOR scores 
less frequently failed and more frequently at¬ 
tained higher speeds than did men making low 
or intermediate SOR scores. 


6 ' 3 ' 3 Comparison with Other Tests 

The evidence summarized in Section 6.3.2 
demonstrated the validity of the SOR. But 
other code tests were also available, and the 
Army and Navy wanted to adopt the most sat¬ 
isfactory one. Each Service, therefore, con¬ 
ducted an experimental comparison of several 
possible tests. 

The Army comparison 8 of six tests, using 
two criteria, was based on a total of 221 men 
in four classes at Scott Field. The results are 
summarized in Table 2. The SOR was found 
to have a slightly higher validity than the 
Thurstone 7 test. Both were considerably better 
than any of the Army radio code tests or the 
Army General Classification Test in selecting 
good operators. 


Table 2. Army comparison of six tests for predict¬ 
ing success in radio code training. (N — 221) 


Test 

Correlation with 
School speed CRT speed 

SOR 

.55 

.41 

Thurstone’s test 

.47 

.44 

ROA, X-l 

.33 

.39 

SCCAT, I 

.30 


SCCAT, II 

.33 


AGCT 

.24 



The Navy comparison 9 of six tests, using 
three criteria, was based on samples of 183 to 
306 men in the radioman school at Bainbridge 
Naval Training Center. The results are sum¬ 
marized in Table 3. The SOR and Thurstone 
tests were again found to have the highest 
validity coefficients. The other four tests (Cler¬ 
ical Aptitude, Spelling, Reading, and GCT), 


were all considerably less efficient than the 
Thurstone and NDRC code aptitude tests. 

Table 3. Navy comparison of six tests for predict¬ 
ing success in radio code training. 


Correlation with 
final aver- 

14th week age course Pass-fail 
Test code speed grade in course 


SOR 

.37 

.28 

.49 

Thurstone’s test 

.36 

.31 

.42 

Clerical aptitude 

.06 

.14 

.26 

Spelling 

.21 

.22 

.28 

GCT 

.12 

.15 

.09 

Reading 

.19 

.18 

.16 


The superiority of SOR over Thurstone’s 7 
test, as shown in Tables 2 and 3, was slight. It 
was, however, a shorter test. The playing time 
of the records was 27 minutes for SOR and 44 
minutes for Thurstone’s test. Both tests had 
the necessary characteristics of being simple 
to administer, suitable for group administra¬ 
tion, and designed for scoring with the Inter¬ 
national Business Machines Company scoring 
machine. 

6 . 3 . 4 , Adoption by Army and Navy 

The Army and Navy tests 8 - 9 referred to in 
Section 6.3.3 both led to official adoption in 
1944 of the SOR for routine Service use. The 
Coast Guard and Maritime Service also used it. 

Special recordings of the test were made by 
the project for Army and Navy use. 

The Navy edition was recorded on two sides 
of one record to be played at 33V3 rpm. It is 
identified as Radio Code Test: Speed of Re¬ 
sponse, Form 2, Columbia Recording Corpora¬ 
tion serial number YTNY 2902-2903. The an¬ 
swer sheet is NavPers 16573. 

The Army edition was recorded on eight sides 
(four records) to be played at 78 rpm. The test 
content is identical with the Navy form; minor 
differences in instructions were made to adapt 
it to Army use. The Army renamed the test 
Army Radio Code Aptitude Test, 1944, ARC-1. 
The records bear Columbia Recording Corpora¬ 
tion serial numbers from XP33522 to XP33529. 
The answer sheet is IBM Form I.T.S. 1100 B 
1133. 


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62 


THE SELECTION OF RADIO CODE OPERATORS 


6 35 Advantages for Military Classification 

The Navy data reported in Table 3 showed 
low correlations of code proficiency with the 
General Classification Test and tests of spelling, 
reading, and clerical ability. Age was also 
shown to have a low correlation with achieve¬ 
ment in code school; for nine separate classes 
of from 123 to 258 men each, the median cor¬ 
relation with age was —.14 (range —.22 to 
-f.03). Similarly, low correlations were found 
between code proficiency and education, me¬ 
chanical ability tests, and tests of subject mat¬ 
ter knowledge. 4 

Since youth, intelligence, education, and me¬ 
chanical understanding are at a great premium 
for many military assignments, it is highly 
advantageous to have a test which predicts 
success in code school satisfactorily but does 
not correlate highly with these other variables. 
This situation permits both a negative and a 
positive type of selection for code training. 
Men with superior qualifications for other 
assignments can be eliminated from consider¬ 
ation, and selection then made from the re¬ 
mainder. By this means competent radio oper¬ 
ators can be secured without taking men who 


are especially desirable for other assign¬ 
ments. 

6 4 SELECTION FOR OSCILLOSCOPE 
CODE RECEPTION 

In 1944 the Naval Research Laboratory re¬ 
quested Applied Psychology Panel assistance 
on problems of training men to receive code 
signals presented visually on an oscilloscope 
screen. In the course of training a number of 
men to receive such code, information was se¬ 
cured on the relation between SOR scores and 
learning records. 5 In a group of 57 men a bi¬ 
serial correlation of .50 was found with a cri¬ 
terion of meeting or failing to meet a specified 
proficiency level after three weeks of training. 
Rank order coefficients of .57 and .52 were 
found between SOR scores and proficiency at 
two code speeds. These correlations are as high 
as those obtained with auditory code. 

A visual adaptation of the SOR should be 
tried out, even though it might not work better 
than the present auditory test. Present results 
indicate that the principle of the SOR test may 
be as useful in selecting men for visual code 
reception as for auditory code. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 7 

SELECTING RADAR OPERATORS 

By Donald B. Lindsley a 


Summary 

A number of tests were designed for use in 
selecting and screening radar operators. 
The tests were intended to measure aptitude 
for the visual tasks of reading and interpreting 
oscilloscope patterns. Most of the tests showed 
satisfactory reliability. Validity data were un¬ 
satisfactory because of the lack of an adequate 
criterion of proficiency for radar operators. 

Two of the tests were adopted by the Navy 
for use in the Combat Information Center 
Aptitude Test, Form 2. This test showed cor¬ 
relations of .45, .55, and .56 with final grades 
in three successive classes at naval training 
school (tactical radar). 

71 INTRODUCTION 

Despite the fact that radar played a critical 
part in helping win World War II and was from 
the start recognized as an important and spe¬ 
cialized operation, little was done to establish 
standards of operating proficiency and to select 
operators in terms of such standards. The rapid 
development, production, and extension of field 
uses of radar meant that thousands of men had 
to be trained quickly. Training schools mush¬ 
roomed almost overnight. These schools were 
usually overcrowded and understaffed; fre¬ 
quently there was insufficient equipment for 
proper teaching and demonstration; and in 
order to meet quotas, training was often ex¬ 
tremely brief. Although a selection problem 
existed continually, few selection standards 
were developed and these were seldom rigidly 
applied due to the continued demand for oper¬ 
ators. This demand prevailed throughout World 
War II since new types of radar meant new 
trainees or retraining of previously trained 
operators. Toward the end, when the demand 
for operators abated slightly, the number of 

a This chapter is based upon the work of Project 
SC-70, NS-146. 


men being inducted was smaller and the quality 
poorer; consequently the number available for 
training was reduced and it was still difficult to 
apply rigorous selection standards. 

The principal criteria of Army and Navy 
specifications for radar operators were as fol¬ 
lows: age, under thirty; intelligence, slightly 
above average; vision, average or corrected to 
average; and interest or experience in related 
fields. The establishment of these criteria was 
arbitrary. 

Early in 1943 the Army requested a research 
project on psychological factors in radar oper¬ 
ation. A Navy request for similar studies was 
made shortly afterward. The work was as¬ 
signed, as Project SC-70, NS-146, to the Yerkes 
Laboratory of Primate Biology (Yale Univer¬ 
sity). One of the first tasks undertaken was to 
construct a series of tests for the purpose of 
selecting and screening radar operators. Re¬ 
quests from Army and Navy training centers 
called for screening measures to eliminate men 
already assigned for radar training. It was 
hoped that such screening would result in meet¬ 
ing quotas with more proficient operators and 
also save valuable training time and facilities 
otherwise wasted on men who were unable to 
pass the course and meet minimal standards of 
proficiency. Not only were selection standards 
poor, but in many instances little attention was 
paid to final proficiency; the inept were often 
passed and took their places as relatively ineffi¬ 
cient operators. 

After a survey of the types of functions per¬ 
formed by radar operators, it was concluded 
that one of the critical aspects of the radar 
operator’s task was visual perception, espe¬ 
cially the ability to detect visual changes 
quickly and accurately, and to note their move¬ 
ment, form, and spatial relationships. Sustained 
attention and emotional stability under pres¬ 
sure also were recognized as important factors. 

A series of pencil-and-paper tests, believed 
to embody measurements of some of these ca- 


RESTRICTED 


63 



64 


SELECTING RADAR OPERATORS 


pacities, was constructed. These tests were 
then tried out in Army and Navy training cen¬ 
ters in order to determine their reliability and 
validity. Although reliability was readily ascer¬ 
tained, validity presented a problem which was 
not satisfactorily solved. Validity required a 
suitable criterion of proficiency against wfiiich 
to correlate the test results. The principal cri¬ 
teria of proficiency available at the time were 
school grades and instructor ratings of per¬ 
formance during training. Neither of these 
proved to be reliable measures. The examina¬ 
tions upon which course grades were based fre¬ 
quently were weighted heavily with nonessen¬ 
tials and seldom were comparable in difficulty 
from class to class or from school to school. 
Ratings of performance presented similar diffi¬ 
culties. Later it was possible to demonstrate 
that objective ratings of performance could be 
devised and that proficiency measures could be 
developed which were objective and discrimina¬ 
tive. 

In retrospect it now appears that it would 
have been profitable to have concentrated ini¬ 
tially on the development of proficiency meas¬ 
ures to be used at the termination of training, 
in order that a satisfactory criterion of per¬ 
formance might have been available for corre¬ 
lation with test results. 


72 DEVELOPMENT OF SELECTION 
TESTS FOR RADAR OPERATORS 

In May 1943, Project SC-70, NS-146, pre¬ 
pared a series of thirteen pencil-and-paper 
Oscilloscope Operator Tests. 1 * 2 The tests meas¬ 
ured perceptual and speed capacities thought 
to be essential to radar operation. Table 1 names 
the tests and summarizes the chief data avail¬ 
able concerning each. The tests are printed in 
reference 2. Some of the tests, especially Nos. 
4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, simulated closely 
some of the tasks which a radar operator is 
required to perform and therefore had apparent 
“face validity.” For example, the Ratio Estima¬ 
tion Test presented a series of items which 
required the estimation of the ratio of paired 
vertical lines of different height. This was a 
duplication of the task presented by the A-scope 


on a ground control interception [GCI] radar 
used for determining elevation of targets, where 
the ratio of two simultaneous pips had to be 
judged by the operator. The Coordinate Read¬ 
ing Test presented a simulated plan position 
indicator [PPI] scope face on which there were 
a large number of blips whose range and bear¬ 
ing were to be read. Similarly the other tests 
reproduced some aspects of the operator’s task. 
Thus quantitative measures of speed and ac¬ 
curacy of performance could be obtained. 

7,2,1 Reliabilities and Intercorrelations 
of the Tests 

Drew Field Study 

After preliminary tryout with enlisted men 
at Camp Murphy, Florida, 12 of the 13 tests 
were administered to 378 radar operators-in- 
training at Drew Field. The purpose of this 
study 3 was to determine the reliability and 
validity of the tests as selection or screening in¬ 
struments. Unfortunately no satisfactory vali¬ 
dation data could be obtained in this study since 
the criterion of operator proficiency which con¬ 
sisted of school grades and ratings proved to be 
unreliable statistically and therefore inadequate 
for correlation with the test results. Distribu¬ 
tions of scores for most of the tests were found 
to give adequate discrimination. The reliability 
and intercorrelations of the tests, based on a 
sample of 100 randomly selected men, were de¬ 
termined. These data are presented in Table 1. 

The reliability of all tests was satisfactory, 
except for the scale reading and oscilloscope 
reading tests, which were subsequently revised 
and lengthened. Except in a few instances suffi¬ 
cient independence of measurement was found 
to warrant further experimental study of the 
individual tests with the view to establishment 
of predictive batteries. The correlations of the 
tests with the Army General Classification Test 
(AGCT) were all positive and ranged from .19 
to .63. It was recommended that the AGCT be 
included in any battery of tests for the selection 
of radar operators. 

The tests had adequate reliability for indi¬ 
vidual prediction. Although intercorrelations 
indicated that the tests dealt with related func- 


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DEVELOPMENT OF SELECTION TESTS FOR RADAR OPERATORS 


65 


tions, it was decided that two or more of them 
might well be included in the same selection 
battery. It was further decided to try the tests 
out in another situation in which more adequate 
validating data might be obtained. Accordingly, 
the following study was made. 

Orlando Study 

An adequate criterion of radar operator per¬ 
formance was believed to be available in the 
eight operating stations of the Army Air Forces 
Tactical Center, Orlando, Florida. 7 Here men 
of varying degrees of experience in operational 
training were performing operating duties daily 


Most of the tests gave promising validity 
coefficients; the six providing the best predic¬ 
tion possibilities were as follows: Scale Read¬ 
ing, Course Location, Plot Reading, Ratio 
Estimation, Coordinate Reading, and Polar- 
Grid Coordinate. The validity coefficients for 
the first four of these tests, in the individual 
stations, ranged from .35 to .78 with 17 of the 
19 coefficients above .50 and 9 above .60. Co¬ 
ordinate Reading, measuring proficiency in PPI 
reading, and Ratio Estimation, measuring abil¬ 
ity to estimate pip ratios and to match pips, 
were shown to distinguish between different 
levels of training and experience. The Plot 


Table 1. Information concerning Oscilloscope Operator Tests. 2, 




Reliability 

Mean correla¬ 

Correlation 

Mean 

Used 


Face 

(split-half, 

tion with 

with 

validity 

by 

Name of test 

validity 

corrected) 

other tests 

AGCT 

RHO 7 

Navyf 

1. Form Detection 


.96 

.33 

.22 



2. Form Conversion I 


.97 

.43 

.39 



3. Form Conversion II 


.92 

.37 

.45 



4. Scale Reading 

X 

.81 

.45 

.63 

.60 

CIC 

5. Oscilloscope Reading 

6. Course Location 

X 

.86 

.40 

.30 

.74 


7. Spot Location 


.98 

.42 

.20 



8. Target-Course Analysis 


.96 

.27 

.19 



9. Plot Reading 

X 

.94 

.42 

.42 

.65 


10. Ratio Estimation 

X 

.96 

.39 

.47 

* 

TR 

11. Coordinate Reading 

X 

.90 

.47 

.45 

* 

TR 

12. Coordinate Plotting 

X 

.94 

.46 

.43 


\ TR 
)CIC 

13. Polar-Grid Coordinate 

X 

.90 

.51 

.47 

.53 


♦Discriminated significantly among operators with different amounts of training. 
fTR =Tactical Radar Aptitude Test (NavPers 16574). 

CIC=CIC (Combat Information Center) Aptitude Test, Form 2 (NavPers 16980). 


under the supervision of experienced instruc¬ 
tors. Two officers in charge at each station rated 
the men on operating performance. Ratings 
were made on A-scope reading, plotting ability, 
PPI scope reading and GCI operation. The 
reliabilities of the ratings in five of the eight 
stations were found to be satisfactory. Accord¬ 
ingly, a study of the relationship between the 
test results and the ratings of operator profi¬ 
ciency in these five stations was made. The 
different stations served Early Warning (EW), 
Chain Home Link (CHL) and Ground Control 
Interception (GCI) functions. Correlations 
were computed for the separate stations; the 
number of men in individual stations ranged 
from 14 to 36. 


Reading, Scale Reading, and Polar-Grid Co¬ 
ordinate tests were particularly applicable as 
selection devices for predicting success in vari¬ 
ous types of radar operation. 

Other Results 

Two of the above tests, Polar-Grid Coordi¬ 
nate and Scale Reading, were given at the Naval 
Training School, Virginia Beach, Virginia, to 
120 search radar operators. The principal vali¬ 
dating criterion was the final course grade. The 
correlations between test results and final 
grades in the radar course were .50 and .55 
respectively. 

During the summer of 1943, three additional 
tests were constructed. These were the Airborne 


RESTRICTED 







66 


SELECTING RADAR OPERATORS 


Oscilloscope Reading Test, Oscilloscope Conver¬ 
sion Test, and Oscilloscope Interpretation Test. 
The first two are concerned with airborne radar 
operator functions, especially interpretation 
and transmission of symbolic directions from 
operator to pilot. Both tests were tried out on 
AI (airborne interception) operators at Boca 
Raton Field and were found to be not highly 
predictive of success as measured by school 
grades. The Oscilloscope Interpretation Test is 
a test of ability to detect different types of 
radar signals through varying degrees of back¬ 
ground masking or jamming. This test was 
administered at the Naval Training School, 
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Reliability was sat¬ 
isfactory, but validation data could not be ob¬ 
tained. The test was tried out by the Services 
in an AAF navigation school for selecting radar 
operator trainees and also in a special research 
project in the Eighth Air Force. 


7 2 2 Application of the Tests by the 
Services 

Army 

In May 1944, upon request from the Psycho¬ 
logical Research Section of the Air Surgeon’s 
Office, copies of the following tests were sup¬ 
plied for experimental tryout in selecting path¬ 
finder crews in the Eighth Air Force: Target- 
Course Analysis, Coordinate Plotting, Form 
Conversion I, Form Conversion II, Oscilloscope 
Reading, and Airborne Oscilloscope Reading 
tests. The results of these studies are not known. 

In the summer of 1944, upon request from 
the Air Surgeon’s Office, special machine-scored 
editions of the Scale Reading Test and the 
Oscilloscope Interpretation Test were made 
available for use at Selman Field, Louisiana, 
in the selection of radar operator trainees. The 
Polar-Grid Test was revised by representatives 
of this station for use in connection with the 
same problem. 

The Coordinate Reading Test and the Oscil¬ 
loscope Interpretation Test were tried out in 
a battery of tests for the selection of bom¬ 
bardier instructors at Midland Field, Texas. 
It is understood that the tests gave sufficient 


promise to be incorporated in a radar operator 
selection battery. 

Navy 

Tactical Radar Aptitude Test . 8 ’ 9 Three of the 
tests, the Polar-Grid Coordinate Test, Ratio 
Estimation Test, and Coordinate Reading Test 
were included in the Tactical Radar Aptitude 
Test (NavPers 16574) which was included as 
part of the selection requirements established 
for naval training school (tactical radar). 

The Polar-Grid Coordinate Test measures 
the examinee’s ability to translate the reading 
of a point on a polar coordinate to a grid co¬ 
ordinate chart. The Ratio Estimation Test 
measures the ability to estimate the relative 
lengths of lines presented in pairs. The Co- 
ordinate Reading Test measures the ability to 
estimate the direction and range of targets on 
a polar coordinate chart. 

The Bureau of Naval Personnel tried out the 
Tactical Radar Aptitude Test on several classes 
of approximately 100 men each. 9 Using several 
criteria of success in Tactical Radar School, 
validity coefficients were generally small, rang¬ 
ing from —.19 to +.34. Twenty-seven of a total 
of 40 correlations were .20 or lower. 

The CIC Aptitude Test. On the basis of these 
results, however, the Bureau of Naval Person¬ 
nel constructed a new test, the CIC Aptitude 
Test, Form 2 (NavPers 16980). 

This test retained the Polar-Grid Coordinate 
Test from the Tactical Radar Aptitude Test but 
dropped the other two. In their places were in¬ 
cluded the Scale Reading Test and a Relative 
Movement Test which was originally developed 
by the University of California Division of War 
Research under Section 6.1 of NDRC. 

At the same time that the selection tests were 
being revised and improved, work was under 
way in improving the examinations and final 
grades given at NTSch (tactical radar). As a 
result of both of these improvements, the CIC 
Aptitude Test Form 2 gave much higher, and 
much more consistent, prediction of school suc¬ 
cess than had the Tactical Radar Aptitude Test. 
Detailed results are shown in Table 2. Correla¬ 
tions with final grades in three successive 
classes were .45, .55, and .56. These results 


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PROFICIENCY MEASURES AND RADAR TRAINERS AS SCREENING DEVICES 


67 


demonstrated the usefulness of the test as a 
selection device. A minimum Navy standard 
score of 50 was, therefore, included as one of 
the selection requirements to be observed in the 
selection of candidates for tactical radar train¬ 
ing. 


' 3 RELATIONS BETWEEN VISUAL 
PROFICIENCY AND RADAR 
OPERATION 

The following study was made to determine 
whether there was a relationship between cer¬ 
tain visual capacities as measured by the Bausch 
and Lomb Ortho-Rater and proficiency in radar 
operation. This study 6 was carried out in field 
operating stations of the Army Air Forces 
School of Applied Tactics, Orlando, Florida. 
Visual measurements, including binocular and 
monocular visual acuity (near and far), verti- 


74 USE OF PROFICIENCY MEASURES 
AND RADAR TRAINERS AS 
SCREENING DEVICES 

The usual procedure is for men to proceed 
from “boot camp” or a classification center to 
a training center for primary training in an 
assigned specialty. In the case of radar, there¬ 
fore, it would be highly desirable to have selec¬ 
tion standards which could be applied before a 
man is assigned to training, in order to elim¬ 
inate those who would probably be “washed 
out” in training. 

There is, however, another point at which 
screening and selection may occur. This is after 
primary, but before advanced or operational, 
training. Also it frequently happens that small 
groups are selected from larger groups for 
specialized duty or performance which calls 
for exceptional skill and ability. For these sec¬ 
ondary types of selection the use of proficiency 


Table 2. Reliability and validity of CIC Aptitude Test, Form 2. 


Correlations with CIC achievement test Correlations with final grades 



Reliability 

Class 7L 

Class 8L 

Class 9L 

Class 7L 

Class 8L 

Class 9L 

Polar-Grid Coordinate 

.85 

.49 

.37 

.42 

.39 

.45 

.43 

Scale Reading 

.85 

.55 

38 

.56 

.46 

.51 

.56 

Relative Movement 

.82 

.48 

40 

.47 

.31 

.51 

.39 

Total test 

.92 

.61 

.45 

.57 

.45 

.55 

.56 


cal and lateral muscle balance (phoria), stere- 
opsis, and color vision, were obtained for 157 
radar operators. Ratings of proficiency in scope 
operation were also obtained. In general it was 
found that operators with substandard binoc- 
idar acuity at near distances were rated as less 
proficient than those with normal or better 
acuity; also that operators with excessive over¬ 
convergence at near distances were rated lower 
than those with normal convergence. In view 
of these results, tests of binocular acuity (near) 
and lateral phoria (near) were recommended 
for examination of prospective radar operators. 
It was recommended that minimum standards 
be set at 1.0 (decimal notation) for the near 
acuity test and at 6 prism diopters of overcon¬ 
vergence or esophoria. 


or achievement measures of an objective and 
performance type is recommended. Radar pro¬ 
ficiency measures and their use in the classi¬ 
fication and assignment of men are described 
in references 4 and 5. Such measures, particu¬ 
larly where knowledge of radar equipment and 
its functional uses was involved, have been 
shown to differentiate between expert, average, 
and apprentice levels of performance. Thus the 
proficiency measure may be used at the end of 
one stage of training to select those who will 
advance to the next stage. 

Frequently a man will do well in courses 
where knowledge of equipment is required but 
will fail in operational performance. In so far 
as certain radar trainers provide good simula¬ 
tion of operating conditions and at the same 


RESTRICTED 







68 


SELECTING RADAR OPERATORS 


time make possible quantitative measures of 
performance, which are often impossible to se¬ 
cure with the actual equipment, they are val¬ 
uable for assessing some of the performance 
aspects of radar operation. The measures ob¬ 
tained may be used to eliminate men who would 
not profit from further training. This implies, 
of course, that a significant relationship exists 
between performance on the trainer and oper¬ 
ational performance with the actual gear. Dur¬ 
ing the war there were a few radar trainers 
which seemed to meet requirements for use as 
selection devices. It should be emphasized also 
that, if the relationship between trainer per¬ 
formance and actual radar operation is high 
enough, the trainer may be used as a validating 
criterion against which to correlate the results 
of pencil-and-paper radar aptitude tests. This 
is particularly important since one of the chief 
obstacles in the development of radar aptitude 
tests has been in finding suitable and adequate 
criteria of proficiency of radar operation. 

Finally, if the validation of radar aptitude 
tests must rest on success or proficiency at¬ 
tained in various stages of training rather than 
upon final operational proficiency, which may 
be impractical to measure, it should be empha¬ 
sized that effort should be placed initially upon 
the improvement of proficiency or achievement 
measures. These must be made comprehensive 
and objective; performance functions should 
be emphasized and should be given a weighting 


proportional to their value in the final assess¬ 
ment of the operator. Without a reliable and 
adequate measure of proficiency it is impossible 
to establish the validity of a selection test. 


75 FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF 
RADAR APTITUDE TESTS 

There are a variety of radar applications for 
land, sea, and air operations, each type of equip¬ 
ment differing in its uses, characteristics, and 
operating procedures. It is probable that oper¬ 
ator requirements differ for each application 
and that selection standards will have to vary 
accordingly. During the course of World War 
II, minimal use of radar aptitude selection 
devices occurred and comparatively little prog¬ 
ress was made in developing and introducing 
such selection measures. The main pitfall 
seemed to be the problem of finding an ade¬ 
quate validating criterion. The solution to this 
problem lies in working out a plan for utilizing 
operational criteria, either from overall field 
performance or from specialized, objective 
methods of evaluating operational performance 
during training. The improvement and objecti¬ 
fication of proficiency measures, such as 
achievement examinations, ratings of perform¬ 
ance, or radar trainer scores, is a necessary 
prerequisite to the development of better selec¬ 
tion tests. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 8 


SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER 
AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 

By William E. Kappauf, Jr. a 


Summary 

E arly in its history NDRC undertook 
work on the improvement of stereoscopic 
heightfinders. Efforts to improve this equip¬ 
ment led quickly to the development of related 
efforts to improve the selection and training of 
heightfinder operators. This psychological 
work was directed at first by Division 7. When 
a specialized psychological section was estab¬ 
lished in June 1942 (first as the National Re¬ 
search Council Committee on Service Personnel 
—Selection and Training, and later as the Ap¬ 
plied Psychology Panel, NDRC), responsibility 
for the work was transferred to it. 

Standards for the selection of stereoscopic 
heightfinder operators were developed, recom¬ 
mended to and adopted by the Army, and vali¬ 
dated by the project. Assistance was given to 
the Army in setting up stereoscopic testing 
centers where men to be trained as heightfinder 
operators were selected. 

When the Navy established a school for train¬ 
ing men for the rate of fire controlman (R), 
the Army heightfinder standards were used as 
the basis for setting selection requirements for 
rangefinder operators. The Applied Psychology 
Panel work was extended at the same time to 
include studies of the selection and training 
of rangefinder operators. Improved selection 
standards were recommended to the Navy and 
adopted for general use. The project staff 
trained Navy personnel for duty in the two 
testing centers where men to be trained as 
rangefinder operators were selected. 

In the course of the work on improving selec¬ 
tion standards, information was obtained on 

a This chapter is based on work done by the Princeton 
University Fire Control Research Project of NDRC 
Division 7, and by Project N-114 and the Heightfinder 
Project of the Applied Psychology Panel. A supple¬ 
mentary report is contained in Volume 2 of the Sum¬ 
mary Technical Report of Division 7. 


the reliability of a number of visual test in¬ 
struments : the Shuron pupillometer, the NDRC 
interpupillometer, the modified Massachusetts 
vision test kit, the Ortho-Rater, the projection 
eikonometer, the stereoscopic trainer M2, the 
vectograph-pursuit test, and the Dearborn- 
Johnston test. 

Correlations among the several tests of stere¬ 
oscopic vision were low enough to indicate that 
these tests were not measuring the same kind 
of ability and could not be used as substitutes 
for each other. A thorough study of military 
visual requirements and of improved methods 
of visual testing is recommended. 

81 PROBLEMS IN VISUAL SELECTION 

The obvious importance of good vision in a 
wide variety of military situations and tasks 
led to a great deal of work on visual tests and 
visual standards. The Applied Psychology Panel 
was active in part of this work, dealing in par¬ 
ticular with problems of stereoscopic vision and 
night vision. 

Very little is known regarding the actual 
visual requirements of most jobs, or the mini¬ 
mum visual standards which should be imposed 
in selecting men for a particular job. The prac¬ 
tice, in view of this ignorance, has often been 
to set very high visual requirements for any 
military job in which vision appears to be im¬ 
portant. When this is done for many jobs, it 
soon becomes difficult to find enough men who 
meet the standards. The result is that require¬ 
ments are then completely disregarded or are 
modified by classification personnel who are 
usually unfamiliar with the relative importance 
of the several standards. To be reasonable, 
selection standards should set the minimum re¬ 
quirements which will keep school or training 
failures down to a tolerable number but not 


RESTRICTED 


69 



70 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


impose impossible requirements on a classifi¬ 
cation department. 

The Applied Psychology Panel was asked to 
investigate the severity of the selection stand¬ 
ards for stereoscopic rangefinder and height- 
finder operators. The work led to the develop¬ 
ment and improvement of some of the testing 
equipment, to validation experiments, and to 
some developments in instrument maintenance 
and operator training to ensure dependable 
validation test results. 


82 HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF WORK 
ON RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHT- 
FINDER SELECTION TESTS 

Qualifications for stereoscopic heightfinder 
operators were listed in the Army heightfinder 
pamphlet in use before the war. These quali¬ 
fications included 20/20 vision or better in each 
eye, hyperphoria less than 1/2 prism diopter, 
esophoria less than 12 prism diopters or exo- 
phoria less than 6 prism diopters, interpupil¬ 
lary distance between 58 and 72 mm, general 
good health, and no history of eyestrain or 
fatigue. These qualifications had been estab¬ 
lished on an a priori, not an empirical, basis. 
Their application rested entirely with the bat¬ 
tery commanders at the time that men were to 
be detached for training at the heightfinder 
school. Some of the men who arrived at the 
school met the standards; others did not, as 
indicated by visual acuity and other tests given 
them at the school. Interviews revealed that 
many men assigned to the school had no interest 
in heightfinder work. Selection was certainly 
not the best, and this coupled with lack of stu¬ 
dent interest meant mediocre heightfinder op¬ 
eration. 


8,21 Studies at Fort Monroe, Virginia 

When the Princeton University Fire Control 
Research Project was set up under Division 7 
early in 1941, one of its objectives was to for¬ 
mulate a satisfactory selection program for 
heightfinder operators. The new tests were to 


be tests of demonstrated merit. Accordingly, a 
wide variety of visual, physiological, and pencil- 
and-paper tests were given to each class of 
students at the school, and the relation between 
these test scores and final school grades was 
determined. By the end of the year, a good 
number of the original tests had been elim¬ 
inated from further consideration in the test 
battery. Validity was indicated for certain tests 
of stereoscopic vision (notably three tests on 
an instrument called the projection eikonometer 
and one on the stereoscopic trainer M2) and 
for pencil-and-paper tests of intelligence and 
mechanical aptitude. 27 The task of obtaining 
satisfactory validation data had been difficult 
because the total number of students who had 
passed through the heightfinder school was less 
than 150 and they, through such selection as 
was applied, were more homogeneous than the 
general run of enlisted personnel. Finally in 
February 1942, Division 7 proposed a tentative 
new selection battery. 1 

Suggested minimum qualifications for stereo¬ 
scopic heightfinder or rangefinder operators 
were: 

General intelligence —an Army standard score 13 of at 
least 100 on the AGCT, or at least 85 on the Navy 
O’Rourke GCT. (These were erroneously believed 
to be equivalent scores.) 

Mechanical comprehension —a grade of I, II, or III 
on Part 3 of the Army test MA2 or MA3, or at 
least 75 on the Navy O’Rourke Mechanical Com¬ 
prehension Test. 

Height —for Army only—not less than 5 feet, 6 inches 
(imposed by tripod height for Army heightfinders). 

Interpupillary distance —60 to 70 mm (imposed by 
limits of instrument adjustment). 

Vision —visual acuity of at least 20/20 in each eye— 
hyperphoria not greater than V 2 prism diopter 
—exophoria not greater than 6 prism diopters— 
esophoria not greater than 6 prism diopters. 

Stereoscopic vision —an Army standard score of at 
least 110 (V 20 above mean) on the projection 
eikonometer, and a standard score of at least 110 
on the stereoscopic trainer M2 modified to include 
power driven change of range. 

Desire for training —selecting only those men who 
indicated that they wanted training as a stereo¬ 
scopic observer after the nature of an observer’s 
duties had been explained. 


b Army standard scores have a mean of 100 and a 
standard deviation of 20. 


RESTRICTED 




HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF WORK ON SELECTION TESTS 


71 


It was further proposed that special personnel 
be trained to administer these tests at selection 
centers. The results of the testing for each man 
were to be recorded on his qualification card. 

With the cooperation of the Coast Artillery 
Corps, the proposed tests were administered 
for standardization purposes at Fort Eustis, 
Virginia. Analysis of the records from these 
standardization experiments indicated where 
improved administration was required and 
where test simplification was possible. In par¬ 
ticular it was found that the projection eiko- 
nometer test could be reduced from three dif¬ 
ferent tests to one, the stereo-vertical test. c 

So that the Services could extend the pro¬ 
gram, detailed descriptions of the test equip¬ 
ment and testing procedures were provided. 2 * 3 * 6 
The equipment included the Shuron pupil- 
lometer for measuring interpupillary distance, 
a modified Massachusetts vision test kit for 
measuring visual acuity and phoria, a projec¬ 
tion eikonometer as developed from an instru¬ 
ment used earlier at the Dartmouth Eye 
Institute (Section 8.3.7), and a modified stere¬ 
oscopic trainer M2. In accordance with the 
original proposals of Division 7, three stere¬ 
oscopic testing centers were established, at 
Fort Eustis, Camp Wallace, and Camp Callan. 

A complete summary of the data which pro¬ 
vided the basis for the Division 7 selection 
recommendations is found in reference 27. It 
is of interest to note what tests showed no 
useful or significant relation to heightfinder 
performance. They included a static test of 
stereoscopic vision, a series of pencil-and-paper 
tests other than those concerned with general 
intelligence and mechanical comprehension, and 
a wide variety of ocular and general physio¬ 
logical tests. Visual acuity and phoria require¬ 
ments were retained in the selection battery 
specifically for their usefulness in reducing 
testing time by weeding out men who would 

c Throughout this STR and in the original research 
literature this test is called the projection eikonometer 
test. The name, however, confuses the test with others 
used by the Dartmouth Eye Institute in the analysis of 
a visual condition known as aniseikonia. To avoid this 
confusion it is strongly recommended that in future 
Service use, the present test be called the stereo-vertical 
test. 


have difficulty passing the stereoscopic tests. 
Validation data on acuity and phoria were 
meager because the heightfinder school students 
did not show significant departure from normal 
in these respects. 

Studies at Camp Davis, North 
Carolina 

There were two specific and recognized limi¬ 
tations in the conditions of the experiments 
which lay behind the Division 7 recommenda¬ 
tions for the selection of stereoscopic operators. 
The men tested in the school and on whom the 
tests were validated were too homogeneous. 
The criterion score which was used as the 
measure of heightfinder operation was a vari¬ 
ability score, not a score of absolute accuracy. 
Since only 4 per cent of entering selectees could 
pass all the established selection requirements, 
there was speculation as to the possibility of 
getting comparably efficient selection with 
lower selection cost by using other stereoscopic 
vision standards. A follow-up validation study 
was therefore requested by the Antiaircraft 
Artillery Command. 

The second validation experiment was con¬ 
ducted by the Applied Psychology Panel project 
on the Selection and Training of Heightfinder 
Operators. 12 This project, accepting the ade¬ 
quacy of existing selection requirements other 
than the stereoscopic ones, proposed to deter¬ 
mine the most satisfactory selection test(s) of 
stereoscopic vision. Through the cooperation of 
the Antiaircraft Artillery Command, a series 
of classes with men of all levels of stereoscopic 
ability were admitted to the Heightfinder 
School at Camp Davis. Through the further 
cooperation of the A.A. Schools at Camp Davis, 
and the Heightfinder School staff in particular, 
the school heightfinders were so maintained 
and reference measures of target position were 
so determined that it was possible to score the 
students not only on the variability of their 
performance but also on their absolute accu¬ 
racy. Four tests of stereoscopic vision were 
administered to all students prior to enrollment 
at the school. Two of these were the projection 


RESTRICTED 




72 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


eikonometer test and the stereoscopic trainer 
test which Division 7 had recommended. The 
others were tests which had been developed 
under a Division 7 laboratory contract with 
Harvard University. All students were men who 
had expressed an interest in learning to operate 
stereoscopic instruments. 

The data of the validation study, based on a 
validation population of 92, indicated that the 
most efficient selection test was the projection 
eikonometer (see data in Section 8.4.4). Fur¬ 
thermore, if the passing score on this test was 
raised from 110 to 115, the stereoscopic trainer 
test could be eliminated from the test battery. 
Use of the projection eikonometer test with a 
passing score of 115 eliminated fewer men in 
the selection process and admitted a school pop- 
lation of which a greater portion could be ex¬ 
pected to graduate. 

The practical results of the research were 
these: a change in the stereoscopic vision test 
requirement in the selection battery for height- 
finder operators, a small increase in the number 
of selectees who could pass all tests (from about 
4 per cent to about 5% per cent), and a decrease 
in the amount of testing time required in order 
to qualify or disqualify a man. 

8,2 3 Studies at Fort Lauderdale, Florida 

On the basis of the foregoing research, the 
Navy set up a list of selection requirements for 
men entering schools to be trained for the rate 
of fire controlman (R). This was a new rate 
established in June 1943, and was to be awarded 
to men proficient in the operation of rangefinder 
and radar equipment. The selection standards 
adopted at that time were as follows: 

General intelligence—a Navy standard score d of 55 
on the GCT. 

Mechanical aptitude —a Navy standard score of 45 
on the MAT. 

Reading ability —a Navy standard score of 50 on the 
Reading Test. 

Interpupillary distance —between 60 and 70 mm. 

Vision —visual acuity 20/20 in each eye uncorrected. 
—hyperphoria not greater than % prism diopter. 
—exophoria not greater than 6 prism diopters. 

—esophoria not greater than 6 prism diopters. 

d Navy standard scores have a mean of 50 and a 
standard deviation of 10. 


Personal qualifications —emotionally stable, calmness 
under stress, quick reactions, not over 30 years 
of age. 

As a result of recommendations from the Ap¬ 
plied Psychology Panel to the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel and the Bureau of Medicine and 
Surgery, these requirements were modified in 
April 1944 in three respects. 

General intelligence —the passing score on the GCT 
was dropped to 50. 

Vision —visual acuity of 20/22 or better was accept¬ 
able for acuity measurements made on the Ortho- 
Rater (test raw score of 9). 

Stereoscopic vision —the requirement added was a 
Navy standard score of at least 58 (a = 10) on 
the multiple projection eikonometer. 

Having adopted these selection standards, 
the Navy set up two selection centers, one at 
Sampson and the other at Farragut, to classify 
men for training for fire controlman (R). The 
two testing centers were staffed by men trained 
in the administration of the selection test bat¬ 
tery by members of Project N-114, the Applied 
Psychology Panel. 

At the further request of the Navy, Project 
N-114 carried out an experimental investigation 
of the adequacy of this set of selection stand¬ 
ards for the Fire Control School at Fort Lauder¬ 
dale, Florida. Actually this research program 
began before the above selection requirements 
were in effect, and so the student groups which 
were tested and examined at the school were 
representative of the unselected Navy popula¬ 
tion. The project sought a test battery which 
would be efficient in selecting men who could 
pass the theory and study part of the course 
and also succeed in becoming good rangefinder 
operators. Compiled course grades on theory 
and operation and a variability score for range¬ 
finding during the final examination were taken 
as the validating criteria. The criterion popula¬ 
tion for the rangefinder operator tests num¬ 
bered 141 men. 

The result of this investigation 22 was the 
development of two test batteries which were 
found to be equally effective in terms of picking 
good students. Battery I below required longer 
testing time per man but passed more men than 
did Battery II. The batteries proposed were: 


RESTRICTED 




DESCRIPTION AND RELIABILITY OF TESTS USED 


73 


General intelligence 
Arithmetic ability 
Interpupillary distance 
Visual acuity and phoria 


Stereoscopic vision 


Personal qualifications 


Selection Selection 
Battery I Battery II 


GCT 50 GCT 45 

AR 45 AR 55 

60-70 mm 60-70 mm 

Visual acuity score of at least 
9 for each eye on the Ortho- 
Rater 

Hyperphoria less than V 2 
prism diopter (Ortho-Rater 
score 4 to 7) 

Esophoria less than 3 ^ prism 
diopters, or exophoria less 
than 4 1 / £ prism diopters 
(Ortho-Rater score 4 to 12) 
Multiple proj. Ortho-Rater 
eikonometer depth score 

score of at of at least 5. 
least 58. 

As in the original Navy re¬ 
quirements ; must want to 
become rangefinder operator. 


These lists of qualifications were recom¬ 
mended to the Navy in March 1945. No action 
was taken on adopting them. 


Johnston test. Navy pencil-and-paper tests 
were also investigated to determine their use¬ 
fulness in selecting men for fire control courses. 


8,31 The Shuron Pupillometer 

This instrument for measuring interpupil¬ 
lary distance was used in all the early selection 
work. It was first adopted and recommended 
for selection use by Division 7. 2 * 3 It consists 
of a frame with two sliding glass panels. On 
each piece of glass is a vertical hairline. When 
the subject’s eyes assume parallel lines of re¬ 
gard and the examiner bisects each of the sub¬ 
ject’s pupils with one of the hairlines, the dis¬ 
tance between the hairlines is the measured 
interpupillary distance. The median of three 
measurements with this instrument has an 
average error of somewhat less than 0.5 mm. 


Other Research 

In the course of the research just reviewed, 
a great deal of information was collected on 
the reliability of various visual and nonvisual 
tests and on the relation between different test 
scores. These data will be of interest to persons 
participating in future testing programs or test 
research. The remaining sections of this chap¬ 
ter therefore discuss these data along with 
accounts of the quantitative results of the vali¬ 
dation experiments. 


83 DESCRIPTION AND RELIABILITY 
OF TESTS USED 

Before presenting the details of the valida¬ 
tion and testing programs, the various tests 
used in the course of the studies by the Height- 
finder Project and by Project N-114 will be 
described. 

The visual tests included the Shuron pupil¬ 
lometer, the NDRC interpupillometer, the modi¬ 
fied Massachusetts vision test kit, the Ortho- 
Rater industrial vision test, the projection 
eikonometer, the stereoscopic trainer M2, the 
vectograph-pursuit test, and the Dearborn- 


8 32 The NDRC Interpupillometer 

The NDRC interpupillometer 17 was devel¬ 
oped to meet the need for accurate interpupil¬ 
lary distance adjustment in rangefinder and 
heightfinder operation. It is described in detail 
in Chapter 22 of Volume 2, Applied Psychology 
Panel. It incorporates the principle of the 
Shuron pupillometer in an instrument where 
the subject makes his own slide settings. The 
median of three measurements taken with this 
instrument has an average error of less than 
0.25 mm. 14 

The NDRC interpupillometer was used in the 
Navy selection program. These instruments 
were not available in quantity for use in train¬ 
ing stations and aboard ship, so each man had 
his interpupillary distance accurately measured 
at the selection center. The measurement was 
recorded on his qualifications card, for use 
when and if he began training for the job of 
rangefinder operator. 

8 ‘ 3 ' 3 Interpupillary Distance Measures 
in Selection 

Selection on the basis of interpupillary dis¬ 
tance is necessary because the range of adjust¬ 
ment of the interocular distance on rangefind¬ 
ers and heightfinders is limited. These limits 


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74 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


are 58 mm and 72 mm. Selection standards use 
the range from 60 to 70 mm to allow for errors 
of measurement and errors of rangefinder in¬ 
terpupillary scale calibration. Actually, not 
many men are eliminated on the basis of inter¬ 
pupillary measures. More Negroes than whites 



INTERPUPILLARY DISTANCE IN MILLIMETERS 

Figure 1 . Distributions of interpupillary dis¬ 
tances for white and Negro soldiers. 


are eliminated on this basis, however. 9 Distri¬ 
butions of interpupillary distance measures for 
white and Negro populations are shown in 
Figure 1. 


834 The Modified Massachusetts Vision 
Test Kit 

The equipment in this kit consists of a visual 
acuity chart and phoria test materials including 
a chart and Maddox rod spectacles. The kit was 
developed and introduced by Division 7. 2 * 4 The 
visual acuity chart uses Snellen E’s. After the 
subject reads some larger letters, he is given 25 
letters of the 20/20 size to read with his right 
eye and 25 to read with his left eye. Letter 


presentation is controlled by a curtain-slot 
arrangement which allows the subject to see 
only one row of letters at a time. The subject 
must read 80 per cent of the 25 letters correctly 
with each eye to qualify as having 20/20 vision. 
The reliability of this test at this 20/20 level 
is high, as indicated in the results of one ex¬ 
periment where 97 per cent of those who 
passed the test on its first administration also 
passed it on retest. 28 

Phoria measurements are taken by a Maddox 
rod technique. The subject views the phoria 
chart with his left eye. The chart has vertical 
and horizontal scales marked off in prism 
diopters. With his right eye, the subject sees 
a red streak, formed by the Maddox rod over 
his right eye and arising from a small electric 
light at the center of the chart. The position 
of the streak on the scales is the measure of 
phoria. The reliability of the test is comparable 
to that of other tests. 28 For N = 152, the test- 
retest correlation for vertical phoria was 
r = +.59 (o r = .05), and for lateral phoria 
was r = +.83 (<y r = .03). 


83 5 The Ortho-Rater Industrial Vision 

Tests 

The Ortho-Rater is a visual testing instru¬ 
ment developed by the Bausch and Lomb Opti¬ 
cal Company for use in industrial classification 
(see Figure 2). All tests on the instrument are 
given by viewing stereoscope-type slides. 
Among other measures of visual function 
which can be obtained with the Ortho-Rater 
are far vision tests of visual acuity (right eye, 
left eye, and binocular), phoria (vertical and 
lateral) and stereoscopic acuity. These tests 
were examined by Project N-114 for possible 
use in the selection of Navy rangefinder op¬ 
erators. 

The reliability of the Ortho-Rater tests as 
administered to Naval personnel by Naval ex¬ 
aminers was the first step in the investiga¬ 
tion. 18 A test-retest study was carried out on a 
population of 234 recruits at Sampson. Results 
are given in Table 1. Retests were always given 
by a different examiner from the one who gave 
the original test. 


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DESCRIPTION AND RELIABILITY OF TESTS USED 


75 




LOOP HANDLE CONTROLS VIEWING BOX POSITION 
HEADREST FOR NEAR TESTS (AS SHOWN) OR FOR FAR TESTS 



CRANK FOR TURNING 
DRUM TO CHANGE FAR 
VISION TESTS 


VIEWING 

BOX 


SMALL DRUM 
WITH SLIDES 
FOR NEAR 
VISION TESTS 


CRANK FOR TURNING 
DRUM TO CHANGE NEAR 
VISION TESTS 


LARGE DRUM WITH 
SLIDES FOR FAR 
VISION TESTS 


Figure 2. Bausch and Lomb Ortho-Rater. View from examiner’s position. (Courtesy of Bausch and Lomb.) 


Test-retest correlations were lower than 
might otherwise have been expected (compare 
columns 1 and 3 in Table 1) because the men 
in the sample had already been selected to an 


unknown extent by the Navy on the basis of 
several visual functions. Therefore, the basic 
evaluation of the reliability of the Ortho-Rater 
tests had to be made in terms of the data sum- 


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76 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


marized in the second column of the table— 
data showing the percentage of test-retest 
differences which were one score unit or less. 
As indicated, the Ortho-Rater measures are 
sufficiently precise and dependable. 

The only differences between test means and 
retest means which were statistically signifi¬ 
cant were those for right eye and left eye 
acuity. In both cases, the shift in measures was 
in the direction of poorer scores on the retest. 
The standard errors of estimate were small 


The degree of correspondence between the 
two tests is shown further by these correlation 
values. 

Visual acuity, right eye r = + .80, o r = .02 

Visual acuity, left eye r = +.81, a r = .02 

Lateral phoria r = +.54, a r = .04 

Vertical phoria r — +.44, a r = .05 

It may be noted that the difference between 
these coefficients of intercorrelation and the 
previously cited coefficients of reliability for 


Table 1. Reliability of the Ortho-Rater industrial vision tests. 


Laboratory test of 188 



Results on 

234 boots tested by a 

industrial employees by 


number of Navy examiners 

one examiner 



% of men with 




test-retest 



Test-retest 

difference of 

Test-retest 


correlation 

1 or less 

correlation 

Visual acuity, far vision, both eyes 

Visual acuity, far vision, right eye 

+.49, ±.05 
+.59, ±.04 

74 


75 

+.89, ±.01 

Visual acuity, far vision, left eye 

+.59, ±.04 

62 

+.83, ±.02 

Lateral phoria, far vision 

+.83, ±.02 

84 

+.82, ±.02 

Vertical phoria, far vision 

+.55, ±.05 

96 

+.62, ±.05 

Stereopsis 

+.64, ±.04 

55 



enough, however, to ensure satisfactory pre¬ 
diction in spite of significant test-retest differ¬ 
ences between mean scores. 

The test of steroscopic acuity given on the 
Ortho-Rater is a static test. The subject views 
a series of numbers and indicates which one in 
a row of five appears nearer to him. There are 
only six observations of this sort for the sub¬ 
ject to make. Reliability of the test, as shown 
in Table 1, is .64. 

83 6 Relation between the Massachusetts 
Vision Test and the Ortho-Rater Tests 
of Visual Acuity and Phoria 

The Massachusetts vision tests and the Ortho- 
Rater tests of visual acuity and phoria are sat¬ 
isfactory substitutes for each other. They have 
equivalent reliabilities, and scores on the two 
tests are closely related as shown in Table 2, 
which summarizes the results of a special com¬ 
parison study carried out by experienced test 
personnel at Fort Eustis, Virginia. 28 


the two sets of tests is an indication of the 
extent to which the two sets of tests measure 
different things. The difference is small except 

Table 2. The number and the proportion of subjects 
passing the Massachusetts and Ortho-Rater tests on 
visual acuity, lateral phoria, and vertical phoria for 
distant vision.* 


Item 


Visual 

acuity 

Distant vision 

Lateral Vertical 
phoria phoria 

N 


576 

288 

288 

Pass Mass. Test 

N 

410 

273 

279 


% 

71.3 

95.0 

97.0 

Pass Ortho-Rater 

N 

419 

264 

268 


% 

72.8 

91.8 

93.0 

Pass both 

N 

393 

259 

266 


% 

68.3 

90.0 

92.4 

Agreement, pass or fail N 

533 

269 

273 


% 

92.5 

92.5 

94.6 

♦Passing scores, Mass.: 


80% correct 

±6 diopters 

diopter 


Ortho-Rater: 8 or more 2 to 13 4 to 7 


in the case of lateral phoria where the differ¬ 
ence between the Massachusetts and the Ortho- 
Rater measurement methods may be of some 
importance. 


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DESCRIPTION AND RELIABILITY OF TESTS USED 


77 


The Projection Eikonometer 

Among the instruments invented by the 
Dartmouth Eye Institute to measure stereo¬ 
scopic vision is one called the projection eiko¬ 
nometer. This instrument, and in particular 
one test given with it, the stereo-vertical test, 
was further developed and applied by the 
Princeton University (Division 7) Field Lab¬ 
oratory at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Its eval- 


(see Figure 3). The two images are polarized 
so that when they are viewed through proper 
Polaroid filters, only one line is visible to each 
eye. The subject fuses these separately seen 
images and perceives a single line. During the 
projection eikonometer test, the two lines are 
rotated in opposite directions. This causes the 
perceived line to appear to tilt away from the 
vertical, either toward the subject or away 
from the subject. A motor drive returns the 



Figure 3. Arrangement of the projection eikonometer for testing a single subject. 


uation was continued by the Heightfinder 
Project N-114 under the Applied Psychology 
Panel. 

In the stereo-vertical test, two lines are 
projected simultaneously on a vertical screen 


lines toward the vertical. The subject presses 
a button at the instant the stereoscopically 
fused line appears to be vertical. The angle 
which the two images on the screen make with 
each other at the time of the subject’s response 


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78 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


is recorded. If the subject responds on every are made as the stereoscopically perceived line 
trial with zero error (and if he has no cyclo- alternates in direction of movement. In each 
phoria), he will always respond when the two “run,” then, there are five times when the line 



Figure 4. Arrangement of the multiple projection eikonometer. 


images on the screen are parallel and vertical, is tipped away from the subject initially and 
The complete test consists of three “runs” of moves toward him during the trial, and five 
ten observations each. Successive observations when it is tipped toward him initially and 


RESTRICTED 


































DESCRIPTION AND RELIABILITY OF TESTS USED 


79 


straightens up by moving back. The subject is 
scored on the basis of the variability of his 
responses. Raw scores are converted to stand¬ 
ard scores by use of a conversion table. 

Details of the eikonometer testing and scor¬ 
ing procedures are given in references 6, 8, 
19, and 20. 

A disadvantage of the original projection 
eikonometer test was that from 25 to 30 min¬ 
utes were required to test each subject, and 
only one subject could be tested at a time. The 
needed development of the projection eiko¬ 
nometer into a group testing instrument was 
begun under Division 7 and successfully con¬ 
cluded by Project N-114. The new instrument, 
known as the multiple projection eikonometer, 
permits six subjects to view the screen simul¬ 
taneously. The subjects sit in a small gallery 
with two rows of three seats each (see Figure 
4). While all subjects do not see the screen 
from exactly the same angle and distance, it 
was demonstrated that test scores were not 
affected by these small differences in angle and 
distance. 11 In the final form of the multiple in¬ 
strument, each subject has a noiseless key 
which he presses when the line appears to him 
to be vertical. The time of the true vertical and 
the instant at which each key is pressed are 
recorded on a tape recorder (see Figures 5, 6, 
and 7 for details of projector and recorder). 

With the multiple projection eikonometer, 
six subjects can be tested in from 40 to 50 
minutes. A slightly longer time is spent on the 
instruction of subjects with the multiple in¬ 
strument than is required with the single 
instrument. Otherwise, the administration of 
the tests is the same. 

During the months of January and February 
1943, while the multiple projection eikonometer 
was in operation at Fort Eustis, Virginia, 
arrangements were made to test a number of 
men on both the multiple and single instru¬ 
ments. 11 As time in the Testing Center allowed, 
men were given both tests. One half of the men 
took the multiple test first (the MS group), 
and the other half took the single test first (SM 
group). The experimental data are summar¬ 
ized in Table 3. Means and standard deviations 
of the distributions of standard scores on the 
tests are given for the two halves of the popu¬ 


lation, SM and MS groups, and for both instru¬ 
ments. The standard errors of the means and 
the critical ratios of the differences between 
means are also given. All of the critical ratios 
were small. Scores on the single instrument 
averaged slightly higher than scores on the 
multiple instrument, but this difference was 
not statistically reliable. 

Table 3. Comparison of scores obtained on the single 

and multiple projection eikonometers. 


Instrument 


N= 99 


SM group 
Mean = 112.01 


Single 

eikonometer 


Multiple 

eikonometer 


a = 17.8 C. R. =0.8 1 
O’M = 1.8 

- C.R. = 0.82 - 

Mean = 110.95 

o-= 13.8 C.R. =0.68 

o'M = 1.38 


iV= 100 
MS group 


Mean = 113.97 

a = 16.1 
O'M = 1.61 

C.R. = 2.05 

Mean = 109.62 
(7= 14.1 

o’M = 1.41 


The product-moment coefficient of correla¬ 
tion between standard scores on the single and 
the multiple instrument was +.70 (a r = .07). 
This figure is slightly, but not significantly, less 
than the test-retest reliability coefficient for the 
single eikonometer: 12 r = .81 (o r = .04). The 
test-retest reliability of the multiple projection 
eikonometer 22 is +.78 (a r = .03). 

From these statistical treatments it is appar¬ 
ent that a test by the multiple eikonometer does 
not differ from a test by the single eikonometer 
to a much greater degree than would be ob¬ 
tained with a readministration of either test. 

Both the single and the multiple projection 
eikonometers were routinely used in testing the 
stereoscopic ability of candidates for training 
as operators of Army heightfinders or Navy 
rangefinders. 


838 The Stereoscopic Trainer M2 

The stereoscopic trainer M2 is a training 
device which duplicates the view and task pre¬ 
sented to the observer in the heightfinder. It 
consists chiefly of a stereoscopic presentation 


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80 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 



CONTROL AND 
RECORDING UNIT 


PROJECTOR UNIT 


Figure 5. The multiple projection eikonometer working units. 


Figure 6. Projector unit for multiple projection eikonometer. 



AUXILIARY PROJECTOR 
FOR SPECIAL TESTING 


POLARIZING FILTERS 


BEARING bar 

DRIVE. ROD 




ACK AND PINION 
SLIDE CARRIERS 

ROTATED BY 
DRIVE ROD 


RESTRICTED 














DESCRIPTION AND RELIABILITY OF TESTS USED 


81 



drum and electric paper 

DIAL I 


STYLI FOR 


8 PER MAN,EACH STYLUS RECORDS 
5 SUCCESSIVE RESPONSES FOR A 
subjects- given direction OF MOTION OF 

THE STIMULUS LINE. 


MANUAL 

RESET 


SELECTOR 


PROJECTOR 
SWITCHES 

LINE SWITCH 


SUBJECTS' SIGNAL LAMPS 
LIGHT WHEN MAN RESPONDS 


SIGNALS FOR 
EXAMINER 


SWITCH 


Figure 7. Control and recording unit for multiple projection eikonometer. 


of an airplane target and a set of reticles. Mo¬ 
tion of the range knob on the trainer causes 
a change in the disparity of the images of the 
reticles in the two eyes, so that the apparent 
distance of the target and reticle relative to 
each other can be varied by definite amounts. 
The task of the subject is to place the airplane 
target in stereoscopic contact with the center 
line of reticle marks. 10 

Six sets of five observations each are made 
during the test, and the subject is scored on 
the variability of his judgments. The test- 
retest correlation for 152 subjects on this test 
was +.71 ( o r = .05). 12 


8 3 9 The Vectograph-Pursuit Test 

This instrument uses a stationary reticle 
suspended between two glass plates. On each 
plate is an airplane target silhouette which has 
been cut from Polaroid material. The axes of 
polarization of the silhouettes are at right 
angles to each other. When the targets are 
viewed through a pair of Polaroid spectacles, 


with axes of polarization of the lenses at right 
angles to each other, the subject sees a single 
airplane. It is at the same apparent distance 
as the reticle if the two polaroid targets are 
superimposed. But if the glass plates upon 
which the targets are mounted are moved later¬ 
ally by motor and cam drive, the subject should 
see a movement of the target in depth. The 
subject sits about seven feet from the target- 
reticle field and turns a “range” knob to offset 
the movement imparted to the glass plates by 
the motor and cam. His task is to rotate the 
knob so as to keep the airplane at the same 
apparent distance as the reticle. The errors 
which the subject makes over a two-minute 
period are summed by an integrator coupled 
to the cam and gear arrangement. 

The test-retest correlation 12 for 46 subjects, 
unselected for visual acuity or phoria, was +.75 
(0r = .O7). 

8.3.10 The Dearborn-Johnston Test 

This is a modification of the vectograph- 
pursuit test which permits the testing of seven 


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82 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


subjects simultaneously. The task of the sub¬ 
ject is to count the number of times that the 
airplane target appears to pass the reticle in 
depth—i.e., either coming in front from behind 
or vice versa. The motion of the two Polaroid 
targets to give this fore and aft movement is 
controlled by a motor-cam arrangement. 

The test-retest correlation 12 for 125 subjects, 
unselected for visual acuity or phoria, was 
+.67 (c r = .05). 

8,3,11 Relations among These Stereo¬ 
scopic Tests 

Reliabilities for the four tests of stereoscopic 
vision just described have been quoted as vary¬ 
ing from .67 for the Dearborn-Johnston to .81 
for the projection eikonometer. To be compared 
with these values are the inter-test correlation 
data shown in Table 4 and representing test 
results for an experimental group of 92 men. 12 
The intercorrelations between scores on the 
several tests are conspicuously lower than the 
reliability coefficients. This suggests that the 
tests are not measuring exactly the same thing. 
Each test must be measuring at least some 
functions which are specific to itself alone. To 
the extent that a particular test is valid be¬ 
cause of the specific factors which it samples, 
the other tests will probably not be satisfactory 
substitutes for it in selection. 


Table 4. Intercorrelations of stereoscopic tests: dataf 
from the Camp Davis validation study. 12 


PE 

M2 VP 

DJ 

Projection 
eikonometer (+.81) 

+ .40* +.32* 

+ .21 

M2 trainer (+.71) 

+ .41* 

+ .16 

Vectograph-pursuit (+.75) 


+ .44* 

Dearborn-Johnston (+.67) 




♦Significantly greater than zero. 

tPopulation of 92 men, all selected for 20/20 vision and low phoria (re¬ 
liabilities are given in parentheses). 


84 THE CAMP DAVIS VALIDATION 
STUDY 12 

It was pointed out in 8.2 above that the 
standards which had been set in 1942 for select¬ 


ing men for admission to the heightfinder 
school qualified only 4 per cent of selectees. Of 
37,500 men screened at Fort Eustis, 27,826 
were eliminated by the AGCT and MA2 scores, 
age, height, and interpupillary distance re¬ 
quirements. The visual requirements of visual 
acuity and phoria cut the remaining group 
from 9,674 to 6,242. The two stereoscopic tests 
(eikonometer and M2 trainer) then passed less 
than 25 per cent of the men who had qualified 
in all other respects and cut the final group 
from 6,242 to 1,474. In view of these facts, the 
Antiaircraft Artillery Command and Division 
7 requested that the Applied Psychology Panel 
make a further examination of the stereoscopic 
selection standards to determine whether such 
high mortality at this stage in the screening 
was required for successful selection. 


Design of the Experiment 

The chief deficiencies of the earlier valida¬ 
tion experiment were the results of (a) un¬ 
controlled preselection of the subjects and (b) 
the lack of completely adequate measures of 
performance on the heightfinder for validation. 
The present experiment was designed to im¬ 
prove the conditions by which students entered 
the experimental group and to provide more 
refined measures of their performance on the 
heightfinder. Four stereoscopic tests were in¬ 
vestigated : the projection eikonometer, the M2 
trainer, the vectograph-pursuit test, and the 
Dearborn-Johnston test. 

In order to obtain a representative sample of 
an untrained Army population, arrangements 
were made to admit to the Heightfinder Sec¬ 
tion of the Antiaircraft Artillery School at 
Camp Davis, North Carolina, a certain propor¬ 
tion of men who did not meet the current stand¬ 
ards for selection. The students in Classes 5, 
6, and 7 at the Heightfinder Section were 
selected so that the scatter plot of their paired 
scores on the projection eikonometer and M2 
trainer (the current selection devices) matched 
as nearly as possible the scatter plot of test 
scores for a large, random sample of the Army 
population (N = 1,488). This procedure guar¬ 
anteed a suitable spread of ability on the two 


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THE CAMP DAVIS VALIDATION STUDY 


83 


instruments and probably an associated spread 
on the other two stereoscopic tests. 

In order to establish criteria of performance 
on the heightfinder which would be adequate 
for validating purposes, it was necessary to 
eliminate accidental and instrumental errors, 
in so far as possible, and to select measures of 
performance on the heightfinder which were 
the best indices of achievement at the end of 
the three months’ course of training at the 
heightfinder school. The following steps were 
taken to ensure these ends: 

The heightfinders were made more reliable 
(see Applied Psychology Panel, Volume 2, 
Chapter 24) by: 

1. Indoctrinating students in maintaining 
the proper charge of helium. 

2. Training students to calibrate the instru¬ 
ments in a more satisfactory way. 

3. Providing end-window stops to reduce 
parallax errors. 

4. Providing instrument sunshades to re¬ 
duce temperature stratification. 

5. Determining an accurate interpupillary 
distance measure for each student and training 
him in making interocular settings using tem¬ 
plates. 

The accuracy of achievement data was as¬ 
sured by: 

1. Putting the instruments into proper ad¬ 
justment. 

2. Obtaining accurate measurements of the 
altitudes of these missions from phototheodo¬ 
lite records which were synchronized with the 
heightfinder observations. 

3. Devising and providing simplified record 
forms for the students, from which both ac¬ 
curacy and variability scores could be obtained. 


The Experimental Population 

The validation population was drawn from 
Classes 5, 6, and 7 at the heightfinder school. 
It included a total of 92 men, each of whom 
satisfied all the following criteria: 

1. He must have been tested on the four 
stereoscopic tests. 

2. He must have had no previous training on 
the heightfinder. 


3. His training and final examination must 
have been conducted on a heightfinder which 
was in excellent condition and adjustment. 

4. His records must have contained adequate 
criterion measures of his heightfinder perform¬ 
ance. 

To the scores of these 92 men on each of the 
stereoscopic tests, the chi-square test of inde¬ 
pendence was applied in order to determine 
whether the score distributions for the experi¬ 
mental population were comparable to those for 
larger, randomly selected Army populations. 
The p values were as follows: eikonometer, 
0.37; M2 trainer, 0.92; vectograph, 0.02; and 
Dearborn-Johnston, 0.20. From the high p val¬ 
ues for at least three of these tests it follows 
that the distributions of test scores for the 
experimental sample did not differ significantly 
from the distribution found in the large sample 
drawn at random from the Army population. 
For the vectograph test with a p value of 0.02, 
there is some doubt that the distribution of 
scores in the experimental sample was compar¬ 
able to the distribution within the random 
sample. 

Performance Criteria on the 
Heightfinder 

Reliable and accurate measures of the pro¬ 
ficiency with which observers can use the 
heightfinder are essential to an experimental 
program for developing tests to select satisfac¬ 
tory heightfinder operators. Such measures of 
performance must distinguish among those 
men who are good, bad, and indifferent op¬ 
erators of the instrument. Only with such 
satisfactory measures of performance on the 
heightfinder is it possible to determine whether 
the tests administered before training predict 
successes and failures. 

The criterion scores for the Camp Davis ex¬ 
perimental population were based upon the last 
22 aerial courses of the final examination. 
“True” target positions were obtained from 
phototheodolite records. For each man, the 22 
scores were all obtained within a 10- to 14-day 
period. Each man kept records of the range 
and height readings which he obtained with 


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84 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


his instrument. From these data and from the 
altitude measurements obtained by the Rec¬ 
ords Section from its phototheodolite readings, 
the observers computed measures of the ac¬ 
curacy and variability of their readings. 

The following five measures of performance 
on the heightfinder were obtained from the 
final examination data: 

1. Variability score in UOE. e 

The variability score is a measure of 
the variation in the readings taken by the 
heightfinder operator. For the 22 courses, 
this score is the median of the variability 
scores for the individual courses. 

2. Course error score in UOE. 

This score is an accuracy score. On a 
single course, the course error is the 
median algebraic error, and is expressed 
in UOE. The course error for the 22 
courses is the median (disregarding alge¬ 
braic sign) of the errors for the indi¬ 
vidual courses. 

3. The “hit” score in per cent. 

This scoring method divides each course 
into 5 parts. Those parts of an individual 
course where the median reading falls 
within the limits of 1 UOE behind true 
target position and 2 UOE in front of true 
target position are considered to be “hits.” 
The criterion “hit” score is the total num¬ 
ber of “hits” obtained for the last 22 
courses of the examination. 

4. Percentage of “good courses” score. 

Courses which show a variability of 4 
UOE or less and a course error of 2 UOE 
or less are considered “good courses.” 
“Good courses” are treated as a percent¬ 
age of the total number of courses. This 
score emphasizes the nature of data which 
are good in terms of gun director func¬ 
tion. 

5. The sum of the course error and the varia¬ 
bility scores in UOE. 

In terms of the relative contributions of 
bias and variability to director perform¬ 
ance, it turns out that a sum of course 
error and variability scores (as measured 

e UOE is the usual abbreviation for “unit of error.” 
One UOE is a disparity difference of 12 seconds of arc 
at the eye of the observer. 


by methods used in the experiment) is a 
good index of the relative inadequacy of 
the data for a gun director. 

Test-retest reliability coefficients for these 
five criterion scores were obtained by corre¬ 
lating scores computed for the first 11 courses 
with scores computed for the last 11 courses of 
the final examination. The uncorrected coeffi¬ 
cients are presented in Table 5. The magnitude 
of these correlations indicates satisfactory re¬ 
liabilities for the performance criteria. 

Table 5. Reliability coefficients for the criterion scores. 


Criterion 

Reliability 

Variability 

0.82 

Course error 

0.68 

Sum of variability and course error 

0.87 

“Hits” 

0.58 

Per cent of good courses 

0.67 


Three of the criterion scores, the variability 
score, the course error score, and the sum of 
the two, are “error” scores. “Error” scores 
lend themselves more easily to exact statistical 
treatment after they are transformed to loga¬ 
rithms, because the logarithms of these scores 
are more normally distributed than are raw 
scores. For this reason, logarithms were used 
whenever correlations involving one of these 
variables were computed. The other two scores, 
the “hit” score and the per cent of good courses, 
were expressed as percentages, and the raw 
percentages were used as the criterion scores in 
correlation analysis. 

Table 6. Intercorrelations of the criterion scores. 


Sum of 



Course 

error 

“Hits” 

Per cent 
of good 
courses 

variability 

and 

course error 

Variability 

0.80 

-0.80 

-0.73 

0.97 

Course error 


-0.25 

-0.69 

0.92 

“Hits” 



0.84 

-0.85 

Per cent of good 





courses 




-0.75 


Table 6 gives the intercorrelations among 
the five criterion scores. The magnitudes of 
these correlations indicate that each of the 


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THE CAMP DAVIS VALIDATION STUDY 


85 


criterion measures was closely related to every 
other criterion measure. 

In the preliminary statistical analysis of the 
relations of stereoscopic test scores to criterion 
scores, all five of the criterion scores were used 
at a number of different cutoffs. Because of the 
relation of all the criteria to each other, it soon 
became apparent that it would be satisfactory 
to consider in detail the results for only one or 
two criteria. One is chosen for treatment here: 
the sum of the variability and course error 
with a cutoff at 9 UOE. This score is highly re¬ 
lated (r = +-97) to the variability score which 
was the conventional measure of performance 
in use for graduation at the heightfinder school. 
It is the score which theoretically defines a 
man’s performance in terms related to the 
probability of his success as an integral part of 
a successful antiaircraft unit. It has a com¬ 
ponent which is an accuracy score, and is very 
highly correlated with the “hits” score which 
is based on absolute accuracy of the observer’s 
readings. 

8 4,4 Correlation of Stereoscopic Test 
Scores with the Criterion 

Table 7 shows the product-moment correla¬ 
tion coefficients between stereoscopic test 
scores and the performance criterion. The co¬ 
efficients are negative because the test scores 
increase with goodness, while the criterion 
scores increase with performance errors. 

Table 7. Product-moment correlations of test scores 

with the performance criterion. 


Sum of variability 
and course error 

Projection eikonometer 

-0.50 

M2 trainer 

-0.43 

Vectograph-pursuit 

-0.39 

Dearborn-Johnston 

-0.29 


Although none of these correlations was 
high, the tests may be successful in weeding out 
the worst men. So further analysis of the effi¬ 
ciency of selection was made using chi-square 
tests and “cost” comparisons. By way of 
illustration, assume that the projection eiko- 
nometer test is proposed for use in selection 


and that a passing score of 105 is being con¬ 
sidered for adoption. The questions to be an¬ 
swered in deciding on the usefulness of the 
test are these: (1) Does the test distinguish 
reliably between good men and poor men when 
105 is used as the passing score; i.e., are the 
men who pass a significantly better group by a 
chi-square test than those who fail? (2) How 
many men are eliminated by using 105 as a 
passing score; i.e., what is the “selection cost”? 
(3) How many men get to school but fail the 
course; i.e., what is the “instructional cost”? 

For the case suggested, pertinent data are 
given in Table 8 and Figure 8. 


Table 8. Chi-square table for eikonometer passing 
score at 105. (iV = 92). 



Men with 

Men with 


eikonometer score 

eikonometer score 


104 or below 

105 or above 

Men who passed 



criterion 

15 

46 

Men who failed 



criterion 

17 

14 


Chi-square analysis shows that the data in 
Table 8 do depart significantly from a chance 
distribution. The test does distinguish reliably 
between good men and poor men. Of the men 
eliminated by the test, more would fail the 
course than pass it (see left half of the table). 
Of the men passed by the test, three-fourths 
would pass the course (see right half of the 
table). 

Diagrammatically, instructional and selec¬ 
tion costs can be shown in figures like those 
in Figure 8. 

Note that if 100 trained men are required, 
one would have to start with 200; 70 would fail 
the selection test, 130 would take training, and 
30 would fail the course. But if no selection had 
been used 156 men would have to take training; 
56 men would fail, leaving 100 graduates. Thus, 
selection saves the instruction time for 26 fail¬ 
ing men. 

The best cutoffs for the individual tests and 
combinations of tests against the sum of the 
variability and course error scores are sum¬ 
marized for comparison in Figure 9. These 


RESTRICTED 















86 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


tests and combinations of tests at the indicated 
cutoffs give the best prediction of successful 
operation of the heightfinder together with the 
least waste in terms of selection cost. All these 
methods of selection were statistically reliable 


to be admitted to the school in order to gradu¬ 
ate a class of 100. 

The value of a selection program may be 
judged by how well it reduces instruction cost 
with a reasonable amount of selection cost. The 


CUT-OFFS ON 
EIKONOMETER 


MEN FAILING MEN PASSING MEN NOT ADMITTED 

THE CRITERION THE CRITERION TO SCHOOL BY TEST 




IF CUT-OFFS WERE AT LEVELS SHOWN 


THIS NUMBER 

OBTAIN THIS 

GRADUATE 

WOULD HAVE 

NUMBER TO 

THIS MANY 

TO BE TESTED 

ENTER SCHOOL 

IN ORDER TO 

IN ORDER TO 

MEN 

156 

156 

100 

200 

130, 

100 


PER CENT OF MEN 

Figure 8. Selection data for eikonometer passing score at 105. 


in distinguishing between good and poor 
heightfinder operators. 

Of first importance to the efficiency of the 
heightfinder school is the number of men who 
fail to meet the graduation requirements after 


selection cost refers to the number of men who 
must be tested in order to obtain a certain 
number of “good” men for training at the 
heightfinder school. This figure is given in 
column 1 to the right of the figure. Thus, 219 


MEN FAILING MEN PASSING MEN NOT ADMITTED 

THE CRITERION THE CRITERION TO SCHOOL BY TEST 



CUT-OFFS 

NO 


SELECTION 

M2T 

90 

VECTO 

105 

EIK 

110 

M2T 

95 

EIK 

115 

EIK 

105 

VECTO 

100 

EIK 

110 

M2T 

110 



IF CUT-OFFS WERE AT LEVELS SHOWN 


THIS NUMBER 
WOULD HAVE 

TO BE TESTED 

IN ORDER TO 

OBTAIN THIS 
NUMBER TO 
ENTER SCHOOL 

IN ORDER TO 

GRADUATE 

THIS MANY 

MEN 

156 

156 

100 

177 

135 

100 

205 

120 

100 

249 

119 

100 

249 

1 14 

100 

230 

no 

100 

341 

115 

100 


10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 

PER CENT OF MEN 

Figure 9. Best cutoffs for individual tests and combinations of tests validated against sum of variability 
and course error scores. Based on criterion population of 92 men, all with passing visual acuity and 
phorias! 2 


being given instruction at the school. This 
might be called instruction cost. Instruction 
cost is high when the selection of school candi¬ 
dates is inadequate. Instruction cost is indi¬ 
cated in the second column at the right in Fig¬ 
ure 9, which shows how many men would have 


men have to be tested to pass 114 men on the 
eikonometer with a score of 115. 

Thus in deciding which of these tests, in 
which combinations, and at what cutoffs, should 
be recommended as standard Army practice in 
selecting men for training as heightfinder 


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THE CAMP DAVIS VALIDATION STUDY 


87 


operators, most attention should be given to 
the instruction cost and the selection cost. Note 
in Figure 9 that the eikonometer at 115 is 
equivalent in instruction cost to the eiko¬ 
nometer and M2 trainer tests both at 110 but 
is far superior in having a low selection cost. 
But one should also consider amount of time 
required to administer the test or tests per 
man and the availability of instruments for the 
administration of the tests. 

All the tests considered in Figure 9 were in¬ 
dividual tests, although the eikonometer was 
shortly afterwards converted to a multiple 
testing instrument which tested six men at 
once. The eikonometer requires about 25 min¬ 
utes per subject as a single instrument. The 
M2 trainer test can be administered in about 
27 minutes to an individual subject. The vecto- 
graph-pursuit test takes about 8 minutes per 
subject. 

At the time of this study there was only one 
vectograph-pursuit instrument in existence. 
M2 trainers were available to any group in the 
Army that might be faced with the problem of 
selecting candidates for training as stereoscopic 
heightfinder operators. The Stereoscopic Test¬ 
ing Centers and the mobile units of these 
centers were adequately equipped with projec¬ 
tion eikonometers. 

On the basis of the experimental results and 
the considerations of testing time and equip¬ 
ment availability it was concluded that: 

1. All combinations of tests should be elimi¬ 
nated from consideration, since single tests did 
about as well as combinations and required less 
time to administer. 

2. The eikonometer was the most generally 
satisfactory of any of the tests, but the M2 
trainer might be used if an eikonometer were 
not available. 

3. The vectograph-pursuit apparatus showed 
real promise, particularly in its low selection 
cost. If it became necessary to expand the test¬ 
ing program, it should be given consideration. 


Recommendations 

In the light of these conclusions, it was rec¬ 
ommended to the Antiaircraft Command that 


(1) the test on the stereoscopic trainer M2 be 
dropped from the selection battery (as given 
in 8.2.1 above) and that the passing score on 
the projection eikonometer be raised from 110 
to 115, and (2) for field or other use where the 
projection eikonometer was not available, men 
be accepted for training who score the highest 
on the M2 trainer test, none being accepted 
who score below 90. 12 

These recommendations were accepted, and 
the changed requirements were immediately 
put into effect by the Antiaircraft Command. 


846 Follow-up Study of the Validity 
of the Projection Eikonometer 

After the new requirement of a score of 115 
on the projection eikonometer was put into 
effect, a follow-up study of the effect of this 
standard in weeding out the potentially inapt 
heightfinder operators was made. 21 Students 
of eight consecutive classes of stereoscopic 
heightfinder operators at Camp Davis, North 
Carolina, were studied to determine the fre¬ 
quency with which men scoring above 115 on 
the projection eikonometer failed the height¬ 
finder course. Results for this new group of 
men were practically identical with the results 
of the earlier study. The percentage of men 
failing on the variability score (score over 6 
UOE) had been 7.1 per cent in the original 
validation group. It was now 7.9 per cent. The 
percentage who failed on the combined varia¬ 
bility and course error score was 11.9 per cent 
in the validation group and in the new classes 
was 10.3 per cent. The critical ratios of both 
differences were small. 

The value of the projection eikonometer as a 
selection device is shown by comparing the per¬ 
centage of men who failed the course with the 
much larger percentage who would have failed 
it if the projection eikonometer were not used 
as a part of the selection procedure. With no 
selection on the projection eikonometer, about 
33 per cent would have failed on the variability 
score and about 36 per cent on the combined 
score. The use of the projection eikonometer 
reduced these failure ratios to 7.9 per cent and 
10.3 per cent respectively. 


RESTRICTED 



88 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


85 THE FORT LAUDERDALE 

VALIDATION PROGRAM 22 

Applied Psychology Panel Project N-114 was 
set up at the request of the Navy at NTS, Fort 
Lauderdale, Florida, to assist the school in the 
selection and training of its fire control stu¬ 
dents. In the course of its work, N-114 admin¬ 
istered stereoscopic and other tests to all incom¬ 
ing students. Finally, these test scores were 
correlated with student achievement. The re¬ 
port on these correlations 22 concludes with 
recommendations for the selection of future 
rangefinder operators. 


8 51 Plan of the Experiment 

The experiment was carried out under con¬ 
ditions closely resembling those which pre¬ 
vailed during the early validation work by 
Division 7 at Fort Monroe. The men in school 
classes were not specially selected, but it is not 
known what selection factors may have oper¬ 


a series of tests which might be used in pre¬ 
dicting school grades on theory work. These 
tests were some standard Navy pencil-and- 
paper tests (GCT, MAT, MKM, MKE, Read¬ 
ing, Arithmetic), some tests developed by 
Applied Psychology Panel Project SC-70 for 
possible use in selecting radar operators, and 
an interest test. 16 

The method of analyzing the results was 
the same as that used in the Camp Davis ex¬ 
periment: chi-square tests of cutoff reliability 
and considerations of selection cost and in¬ 
struction costs. 


8 52 Prediction of Rangefinder Operation 
from Visual Test Scores 

As in the Division 7 studies, very few cases 
of men with poor visual acuity or excessive 
phoria were encountered in the school popula¬ 
tions. The retention of selection standards for 
acuity and phoria therefore remained a matter 
of convenience for other testing. 


Table 9. Application of visual test scores in predicting rangefinder variability scores. 22 



Number of men 
who must be 
tested to get 

This number 
of men to 
enter school 
in order to 

Graduate 
this number 
of men 

No selection 

136 

136 

100 

Visual acuity—far vision score of 9 or more on O-R (20/22 vision) 

145 

130 

100 

Vertical phoria—scores 4 to 7 on O-R 

136 

134 

100 

Lateral phoria—scores 4 to 12 on O-R 

140 

131 

100 

Visual acuity and phorias as above 

150 

127 

100 

Projection eikonometer score of 50 

193 

119 

100 

Projection eikonometer score of 58 

336 

114 

100 

Ortho-Rater depth test score of 4 

196 

125 

100 

Ortho-Rater depth test score of 5 

231 

118 

100 

VA+phoria + PE at 50 

207 

116 

100 

VA+phoria + PE at 58 

362 

110 

100 

VA+phoria+O-R depth at 4 

204 

120 

100 

VA+phoria+O-R depth at 5 

243 

116 

100 


ated in determining their assignment to the 
school. Normal school practice determined the 
degree of maintenance of the school range¬ 
finders and the precision of the radar reference 
ranges. Criterion scores were based upon vari¬ 
ability scores (see Section 8.4.3) obtained dur¬ 
ing the school’s final examination for each class. 

The experiment included the examination of 


The selection cost and instructional cost of 
the different tests used are given in Table 9. 

This table shows that the most efficient selec¬ 
tion from the standpoint of instructional cost is 
the set of visual tests recommended on the basis 
of the Camp Davis work. The selection cost of 
the eikonometer at 58 (equal to 115 in Army 
scores) was, however, somewhat higher than 


RESTRICTED 







OTHER DATA BEARING ON THE SELECTION OF STEREOSCOPIC OPERATORS 89 


that reported for the Davis study. If greater 
instruction cost can be tolerated, substitute 
stereoscopic acuity standards might be used: 
the projection eikonometer score at 50 or the 
Ortho-Rater depth test at 5. The eikonometer 
score would be preferred because of lower 
selection cost, in terms of men, but the Ortho- 
Rater test has the advantage of low testing 
time, and hence low selection cost in terms of 
time. 


8 5 3 Prediction of Classroom Grades 

from Pencil-and-paper Tests 

The classroom grade—called the General 
Principles Grade—used at NTS, Fort Lauder¬ 
dale, was a composite of grades in Rangefinder 
Principles, Fire Control and Gunnery, Fire 
Control Problems, and Radar Principles. The 
relationship of this composite grade to pencil- 
and-paper tests was examined. 


8.5.4 Predicting Overall Student 
Performance 

In the prediction of combined classroom and 
rangefinder performance, two batteries of tests 
proved to be about equally effective. Those with 
the best cutting scores for each were the fol¬ 
lowing : 

I GCT 50, Arithmetic 45, Visual Acuity 9, 
Vertical Phoria 4-7, Lateral Phoria 4-12, 
Eikonometer 58. To graduate 100 men, 
521 men must be tested. One hundred and 
seven survive the above tests and enter 
the school. Seven can be expected to fail. 

II GCT 45, Arithmetic 55, Visual Acuity 9, 
Vertical Phoria 4-7, Lateral Phoria 4-12, 
Ortho-Rater Depth Score 5. To graduate 
100 men, 584 men must be tested. One 
hundred and eight survive the tests and 
enter the school. Eight can be expected to 
fail. 

These two batteries of tests were recom- 


Table 10. Application of pencil-and-paper test scores in predicting classroom grades for rangefinder operators. 22 



Number of men 
who must be 
tested to get 

This number 
of men to 
enter school 
in order to 

Graduate 
this number 
of men 

No selection 

122 

122 

100 

GCT passing score at 45 

135 

118 

100 

GCT passing score at 50 

160 

112 

100 

GCT passing score at 55 

225 

104 

100 

Arith. Test passing at 45 

146 

109 

100 

Arith. Test passing at 50 

181 

106 

100 

Arith. Test passing at 55 

292 

103 

100 

GCT at 50 and Arith. at 50 

193 

105 

100 

GCT at 50 and Arith. at 45 

166 

109 

100 


Good selection was possible with the General 
Classification Test and with the Arithmetic 
Test (see Table 10). Mechanical Aptitude Test 
scores, Reading scores, and Electrical Knowl¬ 
edge Test (MKE) scores were related to the 
criterion, but good selection was possible only 
with a high selection cost. The Mechanical 
Knowledge Test (MKM), Spatial Relations 
Test, Oscilloscope Operator’s Test, and Activi¬ 
ties Preference Test showed by chi-square tests 
no significant relations to the criterion. 


mended to the Navy for use in qualifying men 
for rangefinder operation training. 

86 OTHER DATA BEARING ON THE 
SELECTION OF STEREOSCOPIC 
OPERATORS 

In laboratory research work carried out 
under Division 7 contracts, it was demonstrated 
that women are as good as men at stereoscopic 


RESTRICTED 







90 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


operation. 7 It was also shown that chromatic 
dispersion in the eye could be serious enough 
in some individuals to disqualify them from 
rangefinder operation. 5 


8 7 RELATION BETWEEN VISUAL 
ACUITY AND STEREOSCOPIC ACUITY 

The relation between visual acuity and 
stereoscopic acuity was examined in order to 
determine whether a lowering of the visual 
acuity standards would result in an increase in 
the number of men passing the stereoscopic 
tests, thus increasing the pool of men eligible 
for training as stereoscopic heightfinder ob¬ 
servers. 13 

One thousand and fifty-two soldiers were 
permitted to take the tests of stereoscopic vision 
at the Stereoscopic Testing Center at Fort 
Eustis, Virginia, even though they failed to 
meet the usual standard of visual acuity of at 
least 20/20 in each eye (unaided). Analysis of 
the results showed that although the elimina¬ 
tion of the test for visual acuity would produce 
a slight increase in the number of men who 
qualified on the stereoscopic tests, the burden 
of testing would be greatly increased. A large 
majority of men with vision poorer than 20/20 
failed the stereoscopic tests. Thus, relaxing the 
visual acuity requirement would not be eco¬ 
nomical in testing time. 


20/30 chart, the percentage making a standard 
score of 110 or higher on the projection eiko- 
nometer would increase only 5.6 per cent, to 
a total of 33.2 per cent. To obtain this small 
increase in the number of men with satisfac¬ 
tory stereoscopic ability, it would be necessary 
to examine 82 per cent, instead of 64 per cent, 
of the total Army population which qualifies 
on the basis of age, height, AGCT, and MA 
tests. 

In view of these findings, it was recom¬ 
mended that the visual acuity standards (Sec¬ 
tion 8.2.1) for selecting men for the height¬ 
finder school should not be relaxed. 

Because it is of general psychological in¬ 
terest, it should be added that the stereoscopic 
test scores of those men who missed more than 
16 of the 20/20 letters on the visual acuity test 
(25 per cent of the test population) were sig¬ 
nificantly inferior to the test scores of the men 
who missed no more than 5 of the 20/20 letters 
(64 per cent of the population). 


88 CORRELATIONS AMONG TESTS OF 
STEREOSCOPIC VISION 

There have been three sets of experiments 
which have contributed data 4 ’ 12> 24 ’ 25 > 26> 28 on the 
intercorrelation between tests of stereoscopic 
vision. For purposes of direct comparison, 
the results of these studies are presented in 


Table 11. Intercorrelations of stereoscopic tests: dataf from Tufts College studies, Division 7. 24 - 25> 



Tufts 

trainer 

Vectograph- 

pursuit 

Botts 

test 

Keystone 

test 

Wulfeck 

test 

M2 trainer (+.71) 

.47* 

.50* 

.22* 


.35 

Tufts trainer ( + .55) 


.54* 

.34* 


-.11 

Botts test (+.79) 


.32 


+ .69* 

-.39 


♦Significantly greater than zero. 

tPopulation of 56 men (all 20/20 vision) and 32 women (no glasses). (Population smaller on VVulfeck test and vectograph test.) Reliabilities are given in 
parentheses. Tufts trainer, M2, and vectograph-pursuit were dynamic tests: Botts, Keystone, and Wulfeck tests were static tests. 


When a visual acuity standard of 20/20 in 
each eye (unaided) was applied, 27.6 per cent 
of the men secured a standard score of 110 or 
higher on the projection eikonometer. If the 
visual standard were dropped to include all 
those who make no more than one error on the 


Tables 4, 11, 12, and 13. The conditions of 
each of the experiments are summarized in the 
table footnotes. 

For a more complete description of those 
tests which are new to the reader, reference to 
the original reports is recommended. The tests 


RESTRICTED 







FUTURE WORK ON VISUAL TESTS 


91 


involved are of two types—“dynamic” tests, 
where the subject sees a target move or moves 
it himself, and “static” tests where the subject 
merely makes a judgment about the relative 
stereoscopic position of two or more figures. 


FUTURE WORK ON VISUAL TESTS 

Neither the medical interest nor the scientific 
interest in problems of vision has yet led to the 
production of a completely satisfactory set of 


Table 12. Intercorrelations of stereoscopic testsf: Fort Eustis data for 192 men with vision of 20/20 or better/ 



M2 

VP 

DJ 

W 

O-R 

Keystone 

Projection eikonometer 

.42* 

.23* 

.38* 

- .29* 

- .39* 

-.34* 

M2 trainer (M2) 


.36* 

.41* 

-.49* 

-.38* 

-.41* 

Vectograph-pursuit (VP) 



.31* 

-.14* 

-.31* 

-.30* 

Dearborn-Johnston (DJ) 




-.31* 

-.29* 

-.28* 

Wulfeck (W) 





.29* 

.33* 

Ortho-Rater (O-R) 






.47* 


♦Significantly greater than zero. 

tProjection eikonometer, M2 trainer, vectograph-pursuit, and Dearborn-Johnston tests were all dynamic. Wulfeck, Ortho-Rater, and Keystone tests were 
all static. Negative coefficients in the dynamic vs static block of Tables 12 and 13 show positive relations because the dynamic tests were graded as 
“error” scores and the static were graded as “right” scores. 


The correlations which are significantly 
greater than zero (confidence level of 5 per 
cent) are marked with an asterisk in the tables. 

The important fact about the intercorrela¬ 
tions shown in Tables 4, 11, 12, and 13 is that, 
although many of them are significantly 


visual tests. Some visual functions can be meas¬ 
ured fairly reliably, but for other functions 
(see also Chapter 9) the best available instru¬ 
ments provide scores of very low reliability. 
Tests which purport to measure the same func¬ 
tions show low correlations with each other. 


Table 13. Intercorrelations of stereoscopic testsf: Fort Eustis data for 96 men with less than 20/20 vision. 28 



M2 

VP 

D-J 

W 

O-R 

Keystone 

Projection eikonometer 

.37* 

.46* 

.34* 

-.09 

- .11 

-.14 

M2 trainer (M2) 


.53* 

.21* 

-.21* 

-.27* 

-.42* 

Vectograph-pursuit (VP) 



.36* 

-.19 

-.21* 

-.31* 

Dearborn-Johnston (DJ) 




-.51* 

-.06 

-.12 

Wulfeck (W) 





.10 

.39* 

Ortho-Rater (O-R) 






.29* 


♦Significantly greater than zero. 

tProjection eikonometer, M2 trainer, vectograph-pursuit, and Dearborn-Johnston tests were all dynamic. Wulfeck, Ortho-Rater, and Keystone were all 
static. Negative coefficients in the dynamic vs static block of Tables 12 and 13 show positive relations because the dynamic tests were graded as “error” 
scores and the static were graded as “right” scores. 


greater than zero, none is high enough to per¬ 
mit reliable prediction from one test to another. 
Frpm this and the argument already presented 
in Section 8.3.11, it is safe to conclude that the 
data do not indicate that any one of the tests 
is a substitute for another. 

Thus, it is apparent that validation results 
obtained for one test in a selection experi¬ 
ment cannot be used to indicate what might 
happen in a similar experiment with another 
test. 


A fairly extensive program of research on 
visual requirements and visual tests would have 
a very good chance of producing results of 
great value to the Army and the Navy. The 
research should include: 

1. A thorough experimental and statistical 
analysis of the various visual functions and 
abilities and of the relations between them. 

2. A detailed study of the requirements of 
a number of representative military tasks in 
terms of each type of visual ability. 


RESTRICTED 













92 SELECTING STEREOSCOPIC RANGEFINDER AND HEIGHTFINDER OPERATORS 


3. The construction of new tests and the im¬ 
provement of existing tests to measure each 
type of visual ability. Several tests for each 
type should be available. By the regular pro¬ 
cedures of test standardization and validation, 
the best tests could then be selected and vali¬ 
dated. 

Because many of the visual tests in use today 
were devised from a medical point of view and 
were intended to measure the degree of visual 


impairment or defect, they have not always 
proved too satisfactory as predictors of suc¬ 
cess in 5obs which involve visual ability. The 
tests and testing procedures described in this 
chapter were developed especially for use in 
selecting good men. Approaching the whole 
visual testing problem from the standpoint of 
predicting visual proficiency may lead gener¬ 
ally to tests of greater usefulness in military 
selection. The effort is well worth making. 


RESTRICTED 




Chapter 9 

SELECTING NIGHT LOOKOUTS 

By William E. Kappauf, Jr* 


Summary 

T he Applied Psychology Panel and the 
National Research Council’s Committee on 
Human Aspects of Observational Procedures 
cooperated with other groups in the develop¬ 
ment of two adaptometers, the NDRC adaptom¬ 
eter, Model III, and the modified Rostenberg 
adaptometer. 

Two studies on the prediction of night look¬ 
out performance both showed that the tests of 
night vision being used had low reliability and 
very low validity. 

91 THE PROBLEM OF SELECTING 
LOOKOUTS 

For 99.9 per cent of the time the job of night 
lookout is a thankless one. It is tedious, unin¬ 
spiring, poorly rewarded work. Men assigned 
to the job are often those left over when all 
other billets have been filled. They cannot be 
rated as long as they stay at the job. 

These conditions have meant that, during the 
war, night lookouts were generally chosen by 
negative selection rather than by positive selec¬ 
tion. Only one particular capacity has been 
sought in the lookout—good night vision, or at 
least evidence of no night blindness. This in 
itself might be an adequate selection criterion 
were it not for the fact that most night vision 
testing devices, usually called adaptometers, 
are of very low reliability. Men taking the test 


a This chapter is based on the work of NDRC Project 
N-115 and work done by the National Research Coun¬ 
cil’s Committee on Service Personnel—Selection and 
Training. 

The Applied Psychology Panel was only one of sev¬ 
eral groups seeking better methods of selecting men for 
duty at night. Others working on this problem included 
the Adjutant General’s Office, the Army Air Forces, 
the Armored Medical Research Laboratory, and the 
Medical Research Laboratory, U. S. Submarine Base, 
New London, Connecticut. Some of the reports from 
these other agencies claimed more positive results than 
those described in this chapter. 


usually improve their scores when retested and 
do not rank in the same order of ability on the 
second test. 

It is therefore not surprising that a great 
amount of research time during the war should 
have been devoted to the development of a more 
satisfactory and dependable adaptometer and 
to answering the fundamental question as to 
whether an adaptometer is a good selection 
device for night lookouts. The Applied Psy¬ 
chology Panel participated in this work. It 
assisted in the design of two adaptometers and 
conducted field experiments in which tests of 
night vision were evaluated for their useful¬ 
ness in predicting night lookout performance. 

92 THE NDRC ADAPTOMETER 

The National Research Council’s Committee 
on Human Aspects of Observational Proce¬ 
dures in cooperation with other OSRD sections 
and the Navy developed the NDRC adaptom¬ 
eter, Model III. 1 This adaptometer is similar 
to the radium plaque adaptometer officially 
adopted for use by the U. S. Navy, except in its 
source of illumination. An incandescent bulb 
rather than a radium plaque provides the neces¬ 
sary illumination. The man being tested fixates, 
a small red cross and reports the orientation 
of a peripherally located T-shaped figure which 
is flashed on for brief intervals. The observa¬ 
tion distance is five feet. Testing can be carried 
out at any of five different brightness levels 
(see Figures 1 and 2). 

This instrument was not adopted for routine 
use by any Service. 

93 THE MODIFIED ROSTENBERG 

ADAPTOMETER 

In response to a request from the Techni¬ 
cal Section, Classification and Replacement 
Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, U. S. 
Army, a representative of the Applied Psy- 


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93 



94 


SELECTING NIGHT LOOKOUTS 


chology Panel Project N-115 went to Camp 
Blanding, Florida, to assist in testing an 
adaptometer designed by Major Rostenberg. 
Only preliminary tests were run, but as a result 


Medical Research Laboratory, Bethesda, Mary¬ 
land, for test and further study. No report on 
the results of this test has been received. 

The modified Rostenberg adaptometer has a 



Figure 1. NDRC adaptometer, Model III, front view. 


of this experience in night vision testing, the 
personnel of Project N-115 later constructed 
two modified and improved models of the 
Rostenberg adaptometer. 5 One of these modi¬ 
fied instruments was transferred to the Naval 


radium plaque as its source of illumination. 
Test objects of any shape or size up to 16 inches 
in diameter can be shown in any of 8 positions. 
The adaptometer is used at a distance of 20 
feet. Thus, the subject uses distance vision as 


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THE MODIFIED ROSTENBERG ADAPTOMETER 


95 


( 



BUTTONS 

Figure 2. NDRC adaptometer, Model III, rear view. 


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96 


SELECTING NIGHT LOOKOUTS 


demanded in the lookout situation. Eight men 
can be tested at one time, which makes it pos¬ 
sible to increase the number of trials given each 
subject without increasing the total testing 
time. The adaptometer is simple in construction 
and operation and has easily controlled illumi¬ 
nation. It has but two disadvantages: it 
requires a fairly large, dark room for testing 
and it is larger than most other available 
adaptometers. 


9 4 EXPERIMENTS ON THE PREDICTION 
OF NIGHT LOOKOUT PERFORMANCE 

Study of the validity of adaptometers and 
night vision tests was undertaken by the 
Applied Psychology Panel at the request of the 
Navy. The investigation was carried out by 
Project N-115 working in cooperation with the 
Medical Research Laboratory at the Submarine 
Base, New London, Connecticut. 2 Data were 
sought on the following points: (1) the relia¬ 
bility of a group of night vision tests, (2) the 
consistency of night lookout performance, or 
the reliability of measures of such perform¬ 
ance, and (3) the relations between night vision 
test scores and night lookout performance. 


9 41 Reliability of Night Vision Tests 

The tests which were used in the experiment 
were the following: 

1. The radium plaque adaptometer. This in¬ 
strument was in use as the official U. S. Navy 
adaptometer. From a distance of five feet the 
subject reported the orientation of a T figure 
on a 5-degree white field of low illumination. 
The score was the number of correct observa¬ 
tions. 

2. The NDRC adaptometer, Model III. This 
test, as described in Section 9.2, was the same 
as the radium plaque adaptometer test so far 
as the man being tested was concerned. A 
slightly lower stimulus brightness level was 
used with this instrument than the level pro¬ 
vided in the radium plaque adaptometer test. 

3. The clockface adaptometer. This was a 
modified form of the method of testing night 


vision used by the amphibious forces. The sub¬ 
ject was scored in terms of the distance from 
which he could correctly report the orientation 
of a white hand on a clockface which had white 
markers at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. 

4. The Tufts-SDS test of night vision. This 
was a visual acuity test (Snellen E’s) at low 
illumination. 

5. A Purkinje test. This was a test of adap¬ 
tation time, the time required for the subject 
to adapt sufficiently to see one of four test areas 
of low illumination. 

6. The Hecht-Schlaer adaptometer, RCN 
Model. This instrument was the official adap¬ 
tometer of the Royal Canadian Navy. It meas¬ 
ured the subject’s low brightness threshold for 
a 1/5 second flash. 

7. A test of visual-motor coordination car¬ 
ried out at low illumination. This test was de¬ 
veloped by K. U. Smith for the Committee on 
Aero-Medical Research. 

8. The night lookout training stage. Per¬ 
formance on the training stage was scored in 
terms of the voltmeter setting necessary to see 
a ship model on the stage. Records were taken 
at the end of each of three training sessions. 

9-12. Four personality tests. 

13. Score on the verbal portion of the Gen¬ 
eral Classification Test. 

These tests were administered to a group of 
150 seamen, none of whom had had experience 
as a lookout. Shortly after their arrival at the 
submarine base the men were given the tests 
listed above. The testing required three days. 
They were then given a regular three-day 
course of instruction in night lookout training. 
During the following three days the entire 
group was retested on the series of tests. 

Data on reliability of the tests may be sum¬ 
marized by saying that none of the visual tests 
had a reliability coefficient high enough to be 
satisfactory for efficient selection. Test-retest 
correlations for four of the tests are shown in 
Table 1. 

Reliability values for the other visual tests, 
where the distributions of test scores were par¬ 
ticularly skewed, were obtained by the chi- 
square method. Four-cell tables were set up 
with various cutting scores applied to divide 
passing and failing groups on the first and 


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EXPERIMENTS ON THE PREDICTION OF NIGHT LOOKOUT PERFORMANCE 


97 


second tests. Values of chi-square significant 
at the 1 per cent level of confidence or better 
were obtained at some cutting level for all the 
tests. It was frequently true, however, that this 
confidence level was obtained only for cutting 
scores which would be impractical for use in 


Table 1. Reliability of night vision tests. (N = 150) 

i 



Test-retest 

Test 

correlation 

Clockface adaptometer (from Amphibious 


Forces) 

+ .27 

Tufts-SDS test of night vision 

+ .19 

Purkinje test (adaptation time) 
Hecht-Schlaer adaptometer (Royal Ca¬ 

+ .53 

nadian Navy Model) 

+ .42 


Service selection; i.e., cutting scores which 
failed as many as 40 per cent of the total popu¬ 
lation. 


Consistency of Night Lookout 
Performance 

In the study of night lookout performance, 
40 of the subjects were taken aboard ship each 
night and records were taken of their ability to 
pick up and report an approaching target ves¬ 
sel. Several target runs were made during each 
watch. A watch lasted 30 minutes to an hour 
and each man stood three watches. Target range 
and bearing information were secured by radar. 
Because of interference from airplane search¬ 
lights the data for only three nights of testing 
could be used. Several other factors combined 
to reduce the size of the test population still 
further. There were finally only 58 lookouts on 
whom useful performance scores were avail¬ 
able. 

In order to obtain a measure of the reliability 
of lookout performance, comparisons were made 
between the average range at which a partic¬ 
ular man spotted a target on his first, third, 
fifth, etc., trials and the average range at which 
he spotted the target on his second, fourth, 
sixth, etc., trials. The product-moment correla¬ 
tion between the odd-trial average range and 
the even-trial average range for the 58 men 
was +.56. The performance was not very re¬ 


liable. Reasons for expecting unreliability in 
lookout performance scores are many. They in¬ 
clude trial-to-trial variation in target size, 
target speed, target angle, and sky brightness, 
the small number of trials, the relative inex¬ 
perience of the men, and the small difference 
in ability found among the 58 men. 

9 ' 4 ' 3 Relations between Night Vision 
Tests and Lookout Performance 

Ten of the tests were useless in predicting 
the night lookout performance of the 58 men 
in the criterion group. These ten tests were the 
radium plaque adaptometer, the Purkinje test, 
the Hecht-Schlaer adaptometer, the Smith vis¬ 
ual-motor coordination test, the night lookout 
training stage, the four personality tests and 
the verbal score on the General Classification 
Test. 

The three remaining tests were positively 
related (according to chi-square measures) to 
night lookout performance. These tests were 
the NDRC adaptometer, the clockface adap¬ 
tometer, and the Tufts-SDS test. Of these the 
clockface adaptometer and the Tufts-SDS test 
were valid only for cutting scores set high 
enough to fail more than 20 per cent of the 
group. They were, therefore, deemed imprac¬ 
tical for use at the moment. The NDRC adap¬ 
tometer, which differentiated between good 
and poor lookouts at a level which did not fail 
so many men, was at best a poor predictor of 
night lookout performance. It should be ob¬ 
served that although scores on this instrument 
were positively related to lookout performance, 
scores on the radium plaque adaptometer were 
not. Since these two instruments are very sim¬ 
ilar in nature and show a relation to one an¬ 
other which is nearly the same as the reliability 
of each, it is believed that the difference in pre¬ 
dictive value between the two may have been 
due to the small number of men in the criterion 
group who failed the radium plaque adaptom¬ 
eter test and may, therefore, have been a chance 
difference. 

In summary of this experiment, then, it was 
concluded that none of the seven tests of night 
vision and none of the six other tests tried 


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98 


SELECTING NIGHT LOOKOUTS 


proved to be useful as methods of predicting 
the quality of shipboard night lookout perform¬ 
ance. 

Additional data on the efficiency of the 
radium plaque adaptometer in selecting night 
lookouts was obtained in another experiment 4 
carried out as part of a shipboard study of 
night lookout performance which is described 
in detail in Chapter 6 of Volume 2, Applied 
Psychology Panel. Unfortunately, the radium 
plaque adaptometer does not yield scores that 
can be correlated easily with lookout perform¬ 
ance scores. In the first place, it gives an all- 
or-none type of score: the man either passes or 
fails. In the second place, the man is tested at 
only one brightness level. Thus, between two 
men who pass or between two men who fail 
there may be very large differences in ability 
at the tested or at untested levels of illumina¬ 
tion. It is possible, nevertheless, to make some 
rough comparisons between radium plaque 
adaptometer scores and the performance scores 
obtained aboard ship. 

Of the 114 men who served as subjects in 
this experiment, 63 had been tested on the 
radium plaque adaptometer by one of the ship’s 
pharmacist’s mates, who was a qualified oper¬ 
ator of the adaptometer. Of the 63, 50 had 
passed and 13 had failed the test. When the 
lookout performance of these men was meas¬ 
ured in terms of ESF scores (equivalent square 
feet of target visible at 1,000 yards; see Chap¬ 
ter 6, Volume 2, Applied Psychology Panel for 
complete definition), it was found that the aver¬ 
age score for those who had passed the radium 
plaque adaptometer test was 64.7 ESF, a score 


Table 2. Comparison of radium plaque adaptom¬ 
eter scores for best and poorest lookouts. 




Radium plaque 


Mean look¬ 

adaptometer record 

Group 

out score 

Pass Fail No record 

12 best men 

12 ESF 

8 1 3 

12 poorest men 

196 ESF 

7 1 4 


about equal to the average for all the 114 men. 
The average score for those who had failed 
the test was 43.9 ESF, a score which was 
better than the average score for the 114 


men. Ten of the 13 men who failed the 
adaptometer test had better lookout scores than 
the mean score of those who passed the test. 

The data were considered in another way: 
the very best lookouts and the very poorest 
lookouts as measured by ESF scores were com¬ 
pared with respect to adaptometer perform¬ 
ance. The results Qf this comparison are sum¬ 
marized in Table 2. 

The difference in lookout scores between these 
two groups was clearly significant in a prac¬ 
tical sense as well as in a statistical sense. The 
12 best men could, on the average, see a ship 
about four times as far away as the 12 poorest 
men. But the two groups were equivalent with 
respect to radium plaque adaptometer perform¬ 
ance. This comparison showed, as did the pre¬ 
vious experiment, that the relation between 
scores on the radium plaque adaptometer and 
the performance of men as night lookouts is 
essentially zero. Recognition of this fact ap¬ 
peared in the “Manual of Procedures for U. S. 
Naval Classification Centers,” NavPers 15082, 
dated February 1945, page 150, which contains 
these instructions: 

This test (Radium Plaque Adaptometer) 
is administered under the cognizance of 
the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. The 
Bureau of Naval Personnel has directed 
that scores should not be used in deter¬ 
mining qualifications for any school or 
rate, including Armed Guard. Scores for 
this test should not be recorded on the 
Enlisted Personnel Qualifications Card. 


9 5 CONCLUSIONS ON LOOKOUT 
SELECTION 

Failure to achieve satisfactory methods for 
selecting night lookouts hinges on at least three 
factors: the unreliability of night vision tests, 
the unreliability of lookout performance 
measures, and the probable importance for 
lookout performance of traits other than those 
measured by the tests used. Either a different 
kind of scotopic acuity is involved in the two 
sets of measurements (adaptometer and look¬ 
out situation), or the lookout scores are pri¬ 
marily measures of motivation and application 


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CONCLUSIONS ON LOOKOUT SELECTION 


99 


to the job rather than measures of visual abil¬ 
ity. Only future research can determine which 
is the case. 

Toward the development of more efficient 
lookout performance much can be done by in¬ 
creasing the prestige of the lookout, by the 


better training of lookouts and lookout officers, 
by formalizing the lookout organization aboard 
ship, and by making routine inspections of 
lookout procedures. 3 These matters are dis¬ 
cussed in more detail in Chapter 6 of Volume 2, 
Applied Psychology Panel. 


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Chapter 10 

SELECTING NAVY TELEPHONE TALKERS 

By Dael Wolfle a 


Summary 

A SPEECH interview to rate the potential abil¬ 
ity of men as shipboard telephone talkers 
was developed. The interview was conducted 
over Navy sound-powered telephones. It in¬ 
cluded the pronunciation of numbers and of 
all common American speech sounds, repetition 
of commands, and extemporaneous description. 
Men interviewed were rated as “well qualified,” 
“qualified,” or “not qualified.” 

A training course on the administration of 
the speech interview and the rating of speech 
quality was developed and taught to a number 
of classification interviewers. 

The speech interview was adopted by the 
Bureau of Naval Personnel for routine use in 
the classification of enlisted personnel. 

101 INTRODUCTION 

A great deal of the communication within a 
Navy ship is by means of sound-powered tele¬ 
phones. The term “sound-powered” is used be¬ 
cause the phones are activated by the energy 
of the speaker’s voice without an external cur¬ 
rent source. These phones have the obvious 
advantage of allowing communication to be 
independent of the ship’s power sources. But 
they cause difficulties in communication: fidel¬ 
ity is poor and the energy level is low. Recog¬ 
nizing these disadvantages, the Navy requested 
the Committee on Service Personnel in March 
1943 to assist in the selection and training of 
those members of a ship’s company who could 
talk most effectively over the sound-powered 
phones. The request was accepted and assigned 
as Project N-109 to the Psychological Corpora¬ 
tion for solution. The work on selection of 
telephone talkers is described in this chapter; 
that on training of telephone talkers in Chapter 
10 of Volume 2, Applied Psychology Panel. 

a This chapter is based upon the work of Project 
N-109. 


The particular impetus for the project was a 
request for the immediate classification of men 
on the USS New Jersey. After work on this 
ship was finished, the speech interview as a 
means of rating telephone talkers was adopted 
at other Navy installations. 


102 A SPEECH INTERVIEW FOR THE 

SELECTION OF TELEPHONE TALKERS 

A speech interview 1 to rate the potential 
ability of men as shipboard telephone talkers 
was developed. During the interview the men 
pronounced numbers, repeated commands, and 
gave an extemporaneous description. All com¬ 
mon American speech sounds were elicited dur¬ 
ing the interview. 

Because of the urgency for immediate classi¬ 
fication of men for the particular ship, the USS 
New Jersey , on which speech work began, it 
was impossible to take the time necessary to 
validate the speech interview as a selection 
method. Instead, methods of eliciting and rating 
speech were adapted from college speech-pro¬ 
ficiency interviews. The interview was modified 
during preliminary exploratory work with 290 
recruits selected at random from the Receiving 
Ship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. 

Officers concerned with classification had 
stipulated that the speech rating should divide 
the enlisted personnel into three categories as 
talkers: well qualified, qualified, and not quali¬ 
fied. The speech interview was intended to meet 
this requirement. It was included as a part of 
the classification process and preceded the gen¬ 
eral classification interview. In this way a man’s 
speech rating was available to the interviewer 
when the man’s duty assignment was decided 
upon. 

In April 1943, project members began ad¬ 
ministering the speech interview to the pros¬ 
pective crew of the USS New Jersey. Speech 
ratings were obtained for 2,114 enlisted men 


100 


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TRAINING OF SPEECH INTERVIEWERS 


101 


on a seven-point scale: superior, very good, 
good, average, poor, very poor, and inferior. 
These ratings were immediately evaluated by 
the judge into the three categories requested by 
* the classification officers. The testing program, 
in addition to supplying the data desired by 
the ship’s officers, permitted the study of (1) 
the performance of skilled judges in making 
rating judgments, (2) the frequency of various 
types of speech deviations, and (3) the rela¬ 
tionship of the several aspects of speech to in¬ 
telligibility over voice communication systems. 

While the testing program was in progress, 
419 men who had been given the speech inter¬ 
view were also tested for listening and memory- 
span abilities by representatives of the Harvard 
Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory. An investigation 
of the relation between listening ability, mem¬ 
ory span, and speech ability was thus made 
possible (STR of NDRC Division 17, Volume 3). 

The following conclusions appeared to be 
warranted. 1 

1. A speech rating can be assigned to each 
member of a ship’s enlisted personnel through 
a speech interview at the time that he is classi¬ 
fied for ship’s duty. 

2. The original seven-point speech ratings 
fell into an essentially normal distribution. 

3. Neither sea experience, telephone-talking 
experience, nor education is closely related to 
an enlisted man’s speaking ability as judged 
by this method. 

4. Speech traits that accompany limited in¬ 
telligibility are: poor articulation, foreign or 
regional dialect, too weak a voice, poor control 
of intensity, and a voice quality heard as harsh, 
hoarse, or husky. 

5. All factors considered, those speaking the 
general American dialect were judged to be 
slightly more intelligible than those speaking 
the other two major dialects, southern or 
eastern. 

6. Expert judges making independent rat¬ 
ings agree closely in evaluating intelligibility. 

7. Expert judges agree more than 90 per 
cent of the time in placing men in one of the 
three categories of well qualified, qualified, or 
disqualified. 

8. Speaking ability is not highly related to 
memory span or listening ability. 


10 3 TRAINING OF SPEECH 

INTERVIEWERS 3 ’ 4 > 5 ’ 6 ’ 7 

Results obtained in the selection of telephone 
talkers for a number of individual ships led to 
a demand for wider use of the speech interview. 
Expert speech men were not numerous enough 
to interview all recruits. It therefore became 
necessary, first, to determine whether or not 
the speech interview could be given successfully 
by classification interviewers 2 and, second, to 
develop a course for training classification in¬ 
terviewers to administer the speech interview. 

Project members prepared a short manual 
on the selection of telephone talkers. 4 This man¬ 
ual, and a college textbook on voice and artic¬ 
ulation (Fairbanks: Voice and Articulation 
Drillbook), were used as texts in a course 
given by project personnel to train classifica¬ 
tion interviewers to administer the speech inter¬ 
view. 5 

In addition to their reading, future inter¬ 
viewers also engaged in a number of types of 
drill. They were encouraged to practice speak¬ 
ing exercises during their free time. Each stu¬ 
dent was provided with five-minute recordings 
of his speech at the outset of the course and at 
the end of the course. Two Mirrophones were 
available all the time for practice. Class periods 
included lectures on speech; Mirrophone drill; 
practice in judging recruits’ speech in face-to- 
face situations, from recordings, over tele¬ 
phones, and over ship’s dial telephones; and 
practice in making repeated judgments of merit 
of recorded speech interviews. 

Results obtained with this course indicated 
that classification specialists could be trained 
to administer the speech interview satisfac¬ 
torily. The student subjects improved in their 
ability to evaluate speech, and as the training 
progressed their judgment coincided more and 
more closely with that of expert judges and 
with the average of group judgments. The re¬ 
sults were regarded as tentative, as it was felt 
that more effective training methods might be 
developed in the future. 

Typical correlations of the ratings made by 
petty officers trained to administer the speech 
interview with ratings of the same men made 
by an experienced speech teacher were about 


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102 


SELECTING NAVY TELEPHONE TALKERS 


.80. This level of agreement was considered 
sufficiently high to justify using classification 
petty officers for routine administration of the 
speech interview. 


10 4 LIMITATIONS ON THE USE OF 
THE SPEECH INTERVIEW 

The ultimate fitness of a telephone talker 
depends, not only upon the intelligibility of his 
speech, but also upon a fairly specialized knowl¬ 
edge of equipment, organization, and proce¬ 
dures, as well as upon his attitudes, sense of 
responsibility, and behavior under stress. Thus 
a rating of “qualified” or “well qualified” on 
the classification card should not be interpreted 
to mean that a man has been certified as fully 
capable of performing all the duties of a tele¬ 
phone talker. It means merely that the man’s 
speech intelligibility is passable; it is such that 


with proper training and experience he can 
become a qualified or well qualified talker. 


io.5 NAVY ADOPTION OF THE 

SPEECH INTERVIEW 

As a result of the development of the speech 
interview and the studies in the training of 
classification specialists to administer it, the 
Navy began to use the method at Naval Oper¬ 
ating Base, Norfolk, Virginia. Over 20,000 men 
were rated as telephone talkers at that station, 
and the ratings were noted on their qualifica¬ 
tions cards. The speech interview was later ap¬ 
proved as a standard classification procedure 
by the Bureau of Naval Personnel (letter, Pers- 
6372-MS-4, RS-F-4d, dated April 15, 1944). It 
became a routine part of the Navy classification 
and selection practice in a number of stations 
on both the east and west coasts. 8 


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Chapter 11 

PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 

By John L. Kennedy a 


Summary 

C OOPERATIVE WORK by the Navy and NDRC 
developed mass classification procedures for 
the crew of the USS New Jersey , for the Am¬ 
phibious Training Command of the U. S. Atlan¬ 
tic Fleet, and for the crews of destroyers being 
manned on the west coast. The principles and 
procedures developed were adopted for use 
throughout the Fleet. 

The objectives of classification are to assign 
each man to the job he can do best and to divide 
available manpower equitably among the vari¬ 
ous specialties and among the various units of 
a military force. 

Requirements for the success of a classifica¬ 
tion program are described. A detailed knowl¬ 
edge of the requirements of each military spe¬ 
cialty is necessary. Tests used to determine a 
man’s qualifications should be as independent 
of each other as possible; they must be vali¬ 
dated. Classification data must be kept up to 
date and available; procedures must be stand¬ 
ardized ; and the programs should be under the 
supervision of classification specialists. 

Several devices to aid in securing reliable 
information for use in classification were de¬ 
veloped and installed on several ships. A me¬ 
chanical device which does much of the work 
of combining and weighting classification data 
is described. 


111 INTRODUCTION 

World War II demonstrated that the concept 
of an untrained citizen army, springing to arms 
overnight in a national emergency, is no longer 
tenable. Wars are fought more and more by 
specialists. Even the infantryman, the tradi- 

a This chapter is based upon the experience of the 
Applied Psychology Panel and the work of several of 
its projects which cooperated with the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel in establishing classification procedures. 


tional “cannon fodder,” emerged from the war 
as a specialist in the use of a complicated array 
of weapons requiring a considerable period of 
training to master. The large number of new 
weapons put further stress on specialization in 
the military forces and further complicated the 
training program. The growing specialization 
and the consequent time required for training 
in World War II emphasized the importance 
of scientific classification, allocation, and as¬ 
signment of manpower. 

Discussion of these topics is divided between 
this and the two following chapters. This chap¬ 
ter gives a brief account of the development of 
mass classification procedures by the Navy and 
NDRC and then presents some general princi¬ 
ples of good classification procedure and some 
devices to aid classification. Chapters 12 and 13 
present in greater detail improvements which 
could be made in recruit and advanced classi¬ 
fication programs. 


112 NAVY-NDRC DEVELOPMENT OF 
MASS CLASSIFICATION PROCEDURES 

Early in 1943 the Applied Psychology Panel 
was requested to assist in the classification and 
assignment of the crew of the USS New Jersey. 
Growing out of this cooperative Navy-NDRC 
effort came two requests, (1) to develop classi¬ 
fication procedures for the Amphibious Train¬ 
ing Command, U. S. Atlantic Fleet, and (2) to 
aid in the development of classification proce¬ 
dures for men assigned to duty on new destroy¬ 
ers that were being commissioned on the west 
coast. 

Simultaneously the Bureau of Naval Person¬ 
nel was extending and improving its work in 
the classification field. 

The success of these programs led to the 
adoption on a fleet-wide basis of the principles 
and procedures developed and tested in earlier 
programs. 


RESTRICTED 


103 



104 


PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


1121 The USS New Jersey 

Approximately 2,600 men made up the crew 
of the USS New Jersey , the first of this coun¬ 
try’s 45,000-ton battleships. Two-thirds of the 
men had never been to sea before their assign¬ 
ment to the New Jersey. The need to get the 
ship ready for fleet duty as quickly as possible 
was great. To expedite that process, the Bureau 
of Naval Personnel and NDRC were requested 
to analyze the nature of the ship’s many duties, 
to test and interview each man, and to recom¬ 
mend an assignment for each which he could 
learn most rapidly and in which he could work 
most efficiently. 

In addition to recommending assignment for 
each member of the ship’s company, a mechan¬ 
ical method for the rapid identification of per¬ 
sonnel with special skills and aptitudes was 
installed on the New Jersey. 

Classification of the crew of the New Jersey 
was an emergency effort, done with little time 
for detailed preparation and without oppor¬ 
tunity for validating all the tests used. But it 
was a successful effort. Fewer transfers to new 
duty occurred on the New Jersey than were 
necessary on other ships. Men learned their 
duties more rapidly. Fewer disciplinary prob¬ 
lems arose. The Commanding Officer summar¬ 
ized these advantages in reporting: “The initial 
placement of personnel has definitely contrib¬ 
uted to the apparently extraordinary rapid 
progress made during the shakedown period by 
the crew of this vessel.” (Letter BB62/P16-3, 
Serial 570, August 31, 1943, to Chief of Naval 
Personnel). 

Atlantic Fleet Amphibious 
Training Command 

The second request for assistance in devel¬ 
oping classification procedures for large groups 
of men came in a request from the Training 
Officer of the Amphibious Training Command, 
U. S. Atlantic Fleet, to assist in establishing a 
model classification program and to carry out 
research to improve the classification proce¬ 
dures already set up. Project N-117 with the 
State College of Pennsylvania was activated 
by the Applied Psychology Panel in order to 


meet this request. The project, in cooperation 
with officers from the Bureau of Naval Per¬ 
sonnel and officers from the Amphibious Train¬ 
ing Command, was given the opportunity to 
work out broad, general procedures for the 
allocation of manpower as well as the methods 
for classification into specific job assignments. 

The Amphibious Training Program was a 
new development made necessary by the condi¬ 
tions under which World War II was fought. 
No blueprints existed for amphibious organ¬ 
izations; even the type of craft used was a 
matter of continuous development. The variety 
of specialized jobs to be done on board these 
craft meant that considerable time could be 
saved by the application of scientific procedures 
for handling the thousands of inexperienced 
officers and men who passed through the train¬ 
ing program. The intensive work of the project 
and its collaborators resulted in the adoption 
of a “Manual of Classification Procedures for 
Amphibious Training Bases” 13 at all the am¬ 
phibious training bases on the east coast. 

Emphasis should be given the importance of 
the work in the Amphibious Training Command 
as it bears on the overall problem of mass allo¬ 
cation, classification, and assignment of per¬ 
sonnel. A thoroughgoing attempt was made in 
this work to control the input to the training 
program and in the assignment process to 
“balance” crews in terms of abilities and apti¬ 
tudes. In other words, instead of leaving the 
“raw material” for the classification and as¬ 
signment process to chance, planned use was 
made of test scores, previous job history, spe¬ 
cial skills and potentialities (determined by 
testing and interviewing before entrance into 
the training program) so that the output for 
assignment to specific ships could be controlled. 
In the assignment to ships after training at the 
amphibious training bases it was discovered 
that an enterprising officer was able to round 
up a crew which consisted entirely of “top” 
men. This meant that the next crew had to be 
made up from a pool with the top removed by 
the previous assignment. Such a process, when 
continued, resulted in marked unevenness in 
the ability of various crews. 

From the standpoint of the officer in charge 
of a particular ship, it was obviously desirable 


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GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GOOD CLASSIFICATION 


105 


to have as good a crew as possible. But there 
were not enough good men to provide first-class 
crews for every ship. From the standpoint of 
the Service as a whole it was desirable to divide 
the good men among the ships, to “balance” 
the crews. One or two incompetent crews could 
have a disastrous effect on the efficiency of an 
entire attacking force if they failed to work 
properly in an attack landing. 

The principle of “balancing” and apportion¬ 
ing available brains and ability fairly among 
the crews had its initial full-scale trial in the 
work of this group. 

112 3 Classification of Destroyer Crews 

Project N-116a with Stanford University was 
activated as the result of a request from the 
Commander, Fleet Operational Training Com¬ 
mand, Pacific, to assist in developing adequate 
techniques for classification for gunnery billets 
on all new destroyers manned on the west 
coast. 11 The selectometer, a mechanical aid in 
classification and assignment of large groups 
of men, was one contribution of this project. 
It will be described in Section 11.4.4. Its devel¬ 
opment and use illustrate a second principle of 
mass classification, namely, the utilization of 
mechanical sorting, weighting, and summing 
procedures to make possible the rapid and 
standardized utilization of information about 
personal characteristics in classification and 
assignment. 

112 4 Fleet-wide Adoption of Mass 
Classification Procedures 

The Commander-in-Chief, United States 
Fleet, basing his directive on the success of 
the programs described above, on February 16, 
1945 directed the Chief of the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel to develop a similar classification 
program for fleet-wide application (second en¬ 
dorsement to ComPhibTraLant ltr. FE 25/A7-3, 
Serial 0043, dated January 24, 1945). 

11 3 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GOOD 
CLASSIFICATION 

The success of a military force depends upon 
the ability and training of the units of which 


it is composed. The force as a whole will nor¬ 
mally be most successful if the units are bal¬ 
anced in terms of ability and training. There 
are, therefore, two primary objectives of a 
classification program. One is to assign each 
man to the duty in which he can be most useful. 
The other is to distribute the available supply 
of ability evenly among the units composing a 
force. The classification experience of World 
War II indicates that realization of these two 
objectives requires observance of the following 
general principles. 

1. Detailed knowledge of requirements for 
each military specialty is necessary. 

2. Aptitude measures should be independent. 

3. Aptitude tests must be validated. 

4. Classification data should be constantly 
available. 

5. Classification procedures should be stand¬ 
ardized. 

6. Classification should be supervised by clas¬ 
sification specialists. 

These six general principles are discussed in 
the following sections. 


11,31 Detailed Knowledge of Require¬ 
ments for Each Military Specialty 
Is Necessary 

Determining the requirements of a military 
specialty requires an analysis of the job itself 
by the techniques described in Applied Psychol¬ 
ogy Panel, Volume II, Chapter 14, in order to 
secure a detailed account of what is done. This 
analysis makes it possible to determine the 
mental and physical qualifications necessary to 
perform the duties of the job. 

It is sometimes fairly easy to determine the 
necessary qualifications. For example, the fact 
that the distance separating the eyepieces of a 
heightfinder can be adjusted through a fixed 
and limited range determines one necessary 
characteristic of a heightfinder operator: his 
interpupillary distance must fall within the 
range of possible instrument settings. 

More frequently it is necessary to determine 
empirically the exact requirements of a job. 
Such an empirical study is desirable both be¬ 
cause it provides information on essential 


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106 


PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


qualifications and because it avoids the waste 
involved in setting too high selection require¬ 
ments. If selection standards are set too high, 
time is wasted in locating men who qualify, and 
the men selected are made unavailable for 
assignment to duties in which their high quali¬ 
fications would be more valuable. 

It is not difficult to select a group of men who 
will be successful in the Signal Corps, in Naval 
Aviation, or in some other specialty. It is more 
difficult, and in the long run more important, 
to determine the needs of each specialty, to 
assign each man to the specialty in which he 
will do best, and thus to divide the able men 
equitably among the various specialties. 


11 32 Aptitude Measures Should Be 
Independent 

If aptitude tests which purportedly measure 
different aspects of ability show high correla¬ 
tions with one another, they are measuring 
some general type of ability and failing to do 
the job for which they were intended; they will 
select men of generally high ability rather than 
picking out those high in the particular abilities 
needed in a given job. For example, if mechan¬ 
ical ability is important in one job and verbal 
ability in another, men cannot be selected effi¬ 
ciently for the two jobs unless the mechanical 
and verbal tests are relatively independent of 
each other. Aptitude measures should be as 
independent of each other as possible. 


11,3,3 Aptitude Tests Must Be Validated 

No aptitude test can be used with complete 
confidence until it has been validated in accord¬ 
ance with the procedures described in Chapters 
14 and 15. In wartime, tests must sometimes 
be used before validation is complete. It is then 
necessary to rely on the judgment of a test 
expert in deciding whether or not to use a test 
for classification purposes. The test expert may 
be wrong, as may an engineer; some tests have 
been worthless, and some bridges have col¬ 
lapsed. But when validation data are not avail¬ 
able, the test expert’s judgment is the best 


available basis for deciding what tests to use. 
The U. S. Navy Basic Classification Test Bat¬ 
tery, for example, was put into use before being 
validated. Later evidence showed it a valid 
battery and confirmed the judgment of the offi¬ 
cers who decided upon its immediate adoption. 

11.3.4 Classification Data Should Be 

Constantly Available 

Classification data must be available in order 
to be used. The statement is so self-evidently 
true that its inclusion here should not be neces¬ 
sary. But there are so many ways in which 
classification data, carefully secured at one 
time, may become unavailable when needed that 
the principle demands emphasis. 6 

Classification data may become unavailable 
through any of these common means: 

1. Failure to enter test scores and similar 
information on the man’s record card (WD 
AGO Form 20 in the Army; Q-card in the 
Navy; or their successors). 

2. Failure to provide for recording school 
grades or other measures of demonstrated pro¬ 
ficiency. 

3. Failure to transfer record cards when a 
man is reassigned. 

4. Failure to provide proper mechanical de¬ 
vices for storing, sorting, and using record 
cards. 

5. Failure on the part of an officer in charge 
to understand the nature and use of classifica¬ 
tion data supplied to him so that records are 
not properly preserved and hence are not there 
when wanted. 

These failures can all be avoided by proper 
indoctrination of officers and by inspection 
checks to determine that personnel policies are 
complied with. 

11.3.5 Classification Procedures Should 

Be Standardized 

Many classification interviewers and person¬ 
nel assignment officers are required to keep the 
classification machinery operating. Their work 
must be done in accordance with established 


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DEVICES TO AID MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


107 


and standardized forms, procedures, and rules. 
If all officers and men responsible for classifi¬ 
cation were highly competent experts in their 
tasks, rules could be fewer; but since they are 
not and in a large military organization never 
will be, standard procedures are necessary. 

Standardized procedures may result in some 
misassignment of men, but for the great bulk 
of the men being classified the total amount of 
misassignment will be smaller than it would be 
if each interviewer had complete freedom of 
choice in making his recommendations. The 
selectometer (Section 11.4.4) is one example 
of mechanical standardization of the task of 
recommending assignments. The superiority 
of test scores to interviewers’ judgments in 
selecting men for school training (Section 
1.5.3) illustrates another aspect of the advan¬ 
tages of standardized classification regulations. 

There will of course always be some men 
whose qualifications are so unusual, and some 
jobs for which the requirements are so unusual, 
that they must be treated individually. These 
exceptions in no way minimize the importance 
of the general principle. 


11 36 Classification Should Be Super¬ 
vised by Classification Specialists 

Personnel classification is a technical spe¬ 
cialty. The specialists differ from the amateurs 
in making fewer mistakes and in knowing how 
many mistakes they make. It may appear easy 
to examine a man’s record card, to note that 
he worked as a garage mechanic, and to decide 
that he would probably be successful as a ma¬ 
chinist’s mate. It is more difficult to determine 
which other qualities are involved in determin¬ 
ing whether the garage mechanic will or will 
not be a good machinist’s mate. And it is also 
more difficult to determine which men who have 
not had mechanical experience will be good 
machinist’s mates. The classification specialist 
knows how to solve these more difficult prob¬ 
lems, and he knows just how successfully they 
can be solved with present methods. Personnel 
classification is a technical specialty. It requires 
technically trained officers to ensure successful 
classification. 


114 DEVICES TO AID MILITARY 
CLASSIFICATION 

11 41 Tests of Aptitude and Achievement 

Aptitude and achievement tests bear a large 
share of the burden of determining the partic¬ 
ular specialty to which each man will be as¬ 
signed. Specific aptitude tests have been de¬ 
scribed in Chapters 2 to 10. Their construction, 
standardization, and validation are discussed 
in Chapters 14 and 15. Achievement tests are 
discussed in Chapter 17 of Volume 2, Applied 
Psychology Panel. 


11 ’ 4 ' 2 Interview Aids 

Several devices to aid the interviewer in se¬ 
curing relevant information and to help in 
assigning appropriate weight to the various 
items of information were developed. 

A Point-Score Method for Evaluating 
Naval Personnel 

Interview forms listing specific elements of 
experience considered important for success on 
destroyers were prepared. A weight was as¬ 
signed to each item in terms of its importance 
as judged by a number of individuals well ac¬ 
quainted with the duties to be performed. The 
total score for any individual could then be 
determined by summing the weights of the 
items. The weighting of interview information 
was by this means made more standardized. 7 

Interviewing Guides 

Another aid to the standardization of inter¬ 
viewing procedures was the development of 
interviewing guides for destroyer billets. 5 ’ 12 

Work-Readiness Tests 

Work was begun in 1945 on the development 
of short series of questions patterned after the 
U. S. Employment Service oral trade questions. 
They were intended for use in determining a 
man’s readiness (in terms of knowledge) to 
assume the duties of a particular billet. Only 
one, for distilling plant operators, was actually 
constructed. 9 - 10 


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108 


PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


11 ’ 4 ' 3 Shipboard Classification Devices 

In processing men through shore-based clas¬ 
sification centers a great deal of information 
is obtained about each man’s experience, ability, 
and potential usefulness aboard ship. There is 
still, however, a problem of making that in¬ 
formation readily available aboard ship. Emer¬ 
gencies arise and casualty replacements must 
be made from within the ship’s company. In 
order to make these replacements quickly and 
effectively it is desirable to have some method 
of determining which members of the crew pos¬ 
sess the needed skills or experience. 

The most efficient solution of this problem 
consists of having the pertinent data concern¬ 
ing each man entered on a single record card. 
Various companies, the Findex and the McBee 
for example, have developed simple mechanical 
methods of sorting these cards so that the cards 
for men who possess the desired characteristics 
can be quickly separated from the rest. 

These systems possess the distinct advantage 
of making all the recorded information about a 
man immediately available. There is no for¬ 
getting. 

On three occasions during World War II the 
Applied Psychology Panel was asked to help in 
devising mechanical sorting systems for ship¬ 
board use. Each of the three systems is briefly 
described below. 

Findex Equipment for the USS New Jersey 

Following the classification of the crew of 
the USS Neiv Jersey (Section 11.2.1), Findex 
equipment was installed aboard ship to aid in 
the rapid location of men needed in the oper¬ 
ation, particularly in the emergency operation, 
of the ship. 1 The manual contained detailed in¬ 
structions to supplement those furnished by the 
Findex Company. 

Sorting the Q-Card 

Members of the staffs of Applied Psychology 
Panel Project N-106 and of the Classification 
and Selection Section, Bureau of Naval Per¬ 
sonnel, cooperated in devising a sorting scheme 
to increase the usefulness of the U. S. Navy 
Enlisted Personnel Qualifications Card (Q- 
card). The scheme made provision for coding 
seven items of information (Rate, Branch, Oc¬ 


cupational Skills, Gunnery Experience, Foreign 
Language Fluency, Rate Designator, and Talker 
Qualification) along the two perforated edges 
of the Qualifications Card. An accompanjdng 
manual 3 described the details of the coding and 
illustrated how various types of sorting jobs 
could be done once the cards had been coded. 

Using templates, the guide holes on the edge 
of the card can be punched according to a code 
system which provides for coding the following 
seven items of information along the two per¬ 
forated edges of the Q-card. 

1. Branch (seaman, artificer, etc.—eight cat¬ 
egories in all). 

2. Rate (100 categories in all). 

3. Special Occupational Skills (142 catego¬ 
ries). 

4. Gunnery Experience (two categories). 

5. Foreign Language Fluency (two catego¬ 
ries) . 

6. Rate Designator (two categories). 

7. Talker Qualification (two categories). 

The branch code number and punch code num¬ 
bers illustrate the coding system: 


Code and Punch Code Numbers Used in Recording Branch 


Branch Code Number Branch Code Number 


Seaman 1 

Artificer 2 

Engine Room 3 

Aviation 4 

Special 5 

Commissary 6 

Steward 7 

Specialists 8 


SF and 1 
SF and 2 
2 and 1 
SF and 4 
4 and 1 
4 and 2 
SF and 7 
7 and 1 


A second example shows the punch code num¬ 
bers for several job titles of the 142 categories 
of special occupational skill which can be coded 
on the Q-card. 

The scheme preserves the existing format 
and content of the Q-card. It is comparatively 
easy to use, and the cost of the four pieces of 
equipment which it demands is nominal. The 
system itself does not impose any definite limi¬ 
tation on the size of the groups of cards dealt 
with, but it is believed that it can be used most 
conveniently with groups of less than 500. 


Experimental Shipboard Personnel 
Record System 

The Enlisted Classification and the Test and 
Research Section of the Bureau of Naval Per¬ 
sonnel, Applied Psychology Panel Project 


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DEVICES TO AID MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


109 


N-106, and the McBee Company prepared a 
Personnel Record File for installation aboard 
the USS Catoctin . 8 


Table of Special Occupational Skill Codes (Alphabetical) 


Code 


Punch Code Number 

No. 

Job Title 

Hundreds 

Tens 

Units 

1 

Accountant 

0 

0 

SF-1 

22 

Accounting Clerk 

0 

SF-2 

SF-2 

2 

Actor 

0 

0 

SF-2 

64 

Advertising Manager 

0 

4-2 

SF-4 

77-a 

Aerographer 

0 

SF-7 

SF-7 

109 

Agent, Purchasing 

1 

0 

7-2 

36 

Air Conditioning and 

Re- 




frigerating Engineer 

0 

2-1 

4-2 

3-a 

Aircraft Metal Worker 

0 

0 

2-1 

102-a 

Aircraft Pilot 

1 

0 

SF-2 


The face of the card contains room for re¬ 
cording 53 items of information descriptive of 
a man’s aptitudes, experience, and training. A 
selection of 30 of these items can be coded 
along the edges of the card where they are ac¬ 
cessible for sorting purposes. 

Use of Shipboard Filing Systems 

The record of each man is reduced to a single 
card of, say, 8 by IOV 2 inches. These cards are 
filed alphabetically, making it an easy matter 
to locate information on the experience, train¬ 
ing, and special abilities of any individual man 
aboard ship. 



(i>® Lost Name First Middle 

E) Service Nanber 3KB Rate or Striker Status ‘ 

Rate- P S 0 R1 ‘ 

»KD frade * & ate 

s s-f S-F 

2 1 3 9 l r. 

5*1 Department at Ship (6*T Division of Ship 

(UBronch of Ser- 8) Dote of Enlistment 

vice 

k9)Dote Expir of Enlistment 

HO) Dare F fto B 

PERSONAL 1 ie)Roce Mantoi Status 

114) No of 

Depend 

[6)® Religious Pref 1 

r . 

(17) 

EDUCATION 1 

08) Most Sign Education- 

;i9K§) Educational Status 

(20) Mojor Study 

El) Technical Training 


CIVILIAN EXPERIENCE 


TEST SCORES NAVAL EXPERIENCE SUMMARY 


• 


t22) Main Occupation I DOT Coo* trs 

(28® GOT 

Score Gr 

(36® PI 

49QJ Naval Training (Most recent course completed) 

Description 

ESI READ 

S CMC Gr 

137) Memory Spar 

Description 




I3CKB) ARITH 

38l|)Tel Talker 

WQ Q NQ 

El Ad. F-0 


50® Experience in Action 


(3i) MAT 

Score Gr. 

(39) Listening 

Score Gr 


Description 


32® MK(M) 

Serve Gr 

(4C® Night Vis 

Q NO 


E3) Secondary Occupation ; DOT Code ; Yrs 


ra®MK(El 

Score Gr 

(41) 

;5i® Experience in Domoge Control 

Description 


134) Clericol 

Score Gr 

142) 

Description 


» 


09 Spelling 

Score Gr. 

(43) 


24) Hobbies 

(52® Gunnery Experience 

Billet Nome . T^reGun , M 05 


PHYSICAL 


| j 


4 4® Height 

(46® Handedness 

R L A 


25)® Entertainment Abilities 


W5® Weight 

(47) 



' aa Be r 


VISION 

TESTS 

53® Novy Job Title 1 Code Number 

26® Longuoge Abilities 

(48® Acuity 

For 

Near 

Both 





Riant 





Left 



REMARKS. 

E7®> Special Occupational Skills Title 

V Phona 



L Phcr.a 



|Da 1 e Prepared 

1 -- 

•RD. 

Col 

ISt 

~l 



IIIXS louoiiodnaso 100005 UZ1 

a\S 

•J 9 <t!r» 3 V( 8 fr) 

P«>H6fr) 

JQ l®!aM(S»)] 

I 3^1 l dS|0 , V% . 3 S|<r^ 

l°0 

1 3 £ 

~l 8 

1 =3 £ 

• ••••••••• •• • 

• 

• • • 

• • 

• • • 


Figure 1. Record card for shipboard filing system. 


The record card used was of the keysort type. 
It is shown in Figure 1 in front view. The back 
of the card contains room for a chronological 
record of the man’s naval training and experi¬ 
ence. 


When a need arises for men of specified qual¬ 
ifications, simple mechanical sorting can quickly 
locate them. As examples, one could pick out 
all men rated as qualified telephone talkers, all 
men having a particular occupational skill, all 


RESTRICTED 


















































































































































no 


PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


men who have been under fire, all experienced 
in damage control, or all left-handed men. If 
combinations of skills are desired, it is possible 
to select on several traits. One could, for ex¬ 
ample, locate in a few minutes every qualified 
telephone talker who had been under fire and 
who had had experience in damage control. 

The usefulness of such a record system de¬ 
pends upon the thoroughness with which in¬ 
formation is entered on the record card and 
the care with which the records are kept up to 
date. If those things are done properly, the 
possession of such a record system makes it 
possible for the ship’s officers to locate the men 
they want when they want them. 


11.4.4 Mechanical Weighting of Classi¬ 
fication Data 

The most novel development of the Applied 
Psychology Panel’s work in the field of classi¬ 
fication procedures was the invention of a device 
called the selectometer which automatically 
weights and combines a man’s scores (or other 
measures) on each of the factors considered 


important in selecting men for a particular 
job. 4 The selectometer was developed by Project 
N-116, Stanford University, in cooperation 
with officers of the Operational Training Com¬ 
mand, U. S. Navy Pacific Fleet. 

The basic aim of classification is to select the 
men best suited for each of a number of posi¬ 
tions. This selection is made by considering the 
qualifications of the individuals available for 
placement and comparing those qualifications 
with the requirements of each job. This is not 
easy. Remembering and weighting, more or less 
simultaneously, qualities which the classifier 
believes are related to success in different jobs 
presents an extremely difficult task. In actual 
practice, the interviewers will frequently over¬ 
look some factors, will be inconsistent in the 
importance attached to the several factors, and 
will, in fact, seldom know how they weight the 
factors which they do consider in making an 
assignment. 

One way to introduce uniformity into this 
procedure is to weight the factors and sum the 
weighted scores mechanically. There are vari¬ 
ous ways to do this part of the classification 
job. It can be done by hand computation or with 



PHOTO TUBE 


METER READING 
JEWE 


HOLES 


RO ADJUSTMENT 
MAXIMUM ADJUSTMENT 


CONTROL PANEL' 


Figure 2. The optical selectometer. 


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DEVICES TO AID MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


111 


the aid of punched cards. The selectometer does 
the same job more rapidly. 

The Optical Selectometer 

Operation and Construction. Figure 2 is a 
photograph of the optical selectometer as it 
appears ready for operation. When a man is to 
be classified, data taken from his Q-card are 
set into the control panel by moving pointers 
to the proper settings. For example, if he is six 
feet tall the “Height” pointer is moved to the 
mark “71-72.” When all the other variables 
(age, test scores, etc.) are similarly treated, 
the instrument is considered “set up” for the 
individual. 

The extent to which the man is qualified for 
various jobs is then determined from the “read¬ 
ing holes.” Each hole represents one job, and 
the amount of light streaming through each 
hole determines the degree of qualification for 
the corresponding job. The intensity of light 
is measured by a phototube connected to a 
microammeter through an amplifying circuit. 
The meter reading thus provides a quantitative 
measure of fitness for each position. 

The instrument uses an optical-mechanical 
method of weighting qualifications. The extent 
of qualification for each job is indicated by the 
intensity of the beam of light from a fluorescent 
light source through the corresponding hole in 
the front panel. The beam of light is reduced 
in intensity by interposing filters in proportion 
to the lack of qualifications which an individual 
possesses. Thus, the more qualified a man is 
for a job, the more intense is the beam of light 
through that job hole. The less qualified he is, 
the greater is the reduction by means of filters, 
and when an individual possesses a character¬ 
istic which would disqualify him for a job, the 
use of an opaque filter eliminates all light. 

The filters are mounted on plates which slide 
behind the front panel. When a plate is moved 
to the position which represents a particular 
score or class interval of a variable, the holes 
in it are so lined up as to bring the proper 
filter directly behind the front reading hole. 
Each of the plates represents one variable. The 
total amount of light transmitted by the set 
of filters indicates the degree of qualification 
for the job. 


To offer a standardized method of represent¬ 
ing the degree of qualification of any category, 
a set of filters was prepared from 35 mm mo¬ 
tion picture film of varying density or light 
transmission value. For convenience, the filters 


Table 1. Filters used for weighting. 


Filter 

No. 

(weight) 

Shade 

Desired 
percentage 
of light 
transmission 

Interpretation for degree 
of job qualification 

0 

Clear 

100 

Best for job, or no adverse 
relationship 

1 

Very light 

90 

Slightly less desirable, or 
probably not quite the 
best 

2 

Light 

80 

Fairly desirable, or may be 
only slight handicap 

3 

Light gray 

70 

Probably adequate, but like¬ 
lihood of some handicap 

4 

Medium 

gray 

60 

Possible success, but prob¬ 
ably some drawback 

5 

Dark gray 

50 

Doubtful; considerable 
probability of failure 

6 

Dark 

40 

Unlikely to succeed, chances 
more definitely against 

7 

Very dark 

20 

Bare possibility of success; 
great risk 

8 

Opaque 

0 

Reject; very high prob¬ 
ability of failure 


were given numbers from 0 to 8 according to 
the density. Table 1 indicates the amount of 
light transmitted by each filter and its inter¬ 
pretation in terms of degree of job qualifica¬ 
tion. 

The weights assigned to each category within 
each of the variables used in making gun sta¬ 
tion assignments are given in reference 4. These 
weights were assigned on the basis of analyses 
of the duties and requirements of the gunnery 
jobs for which assignments were to be made, 
a study of the characteristics of the men avail¬ 
able for assignment, 2 and conferences with a 
number of gunnery officers to refine and stand¬ 
ardize tentatively assigned weights. 

The method of weighting used in the se¬ 
lectometer combines the advantages of the 
multiple cutting score technique with those of 
the multiple correlation method. The selectom- 


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112 


PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


eter, like the cutting score procedure, permits 
one to eliminate a man on the basis of one dis¬ 
qualifying characteristic alone, even though 
his scores on other variables may be extremely 
good. On the other hand, when a very high 
qualifying score has a higher predictive value 
than a score just above the cutting line, the 
selectometer, like the regression equation, gives 
extra weight to high scores; it thus takes full 
advantage of any predictive differences in the 
scores above the cutting point. 

In its application at the Precommissioning 
Training Center, Treasure Island, California, 
to classification for destroyer gun stations, the 
following variables were incorporated in the 
instrument: GCT, Arithmetic, Mechanical 
Knowledge, Height, Near Vision, Far Vision, 
Age, Years of Education, Interest (for a type 
of gun), Talker Test, Build, Sports in Which 
Qualified, and Leadership. In its use at other 
centers some different variables were used ac¬ 
cording to the measures which were available 
in the classification office. 

The list of variables used in the selectometer 
does not include all the factors which are im¬ 
portant for success in gun stations. For exam¬ 
ple, a man’s success in these positions depends 
upon his motivation, dependability, work habits, 
willingness to follow orders, ability to get along 
with others, his morale, his ability to stand up 
under fire, and a host of other factors. The 
reason for not including such variables is sim¬ 
ply that no adequate measures or estimates of 
them are obtainable. There is a lack of adequate 
methods of making such estimates and a lack 
of personnel and time to obtain such data as 
might be available. 

An interesting feature of the selectometer is 
that the unsatisfactory and unreliable appraisal 
of some traits becomes immediately apparent 
when their inclusion in the list of selectometer 
variables is considered. For example, inter¬ 
viewers who think they have been considering 
a man’s “leadership” in recommending his best 
assignment find themselves facing a new prob¬ 
lem when they are asked exactly how much 
weight should be given to what degrees of 
leadership. When more reliable methods of esti¬ 
mating such traits become available and when 
agreement on their importance is reached, they 


may readily be incorporated into the selectom¬ 
eter system. 

The important variables, rate and experience, 
were omitted from the selectometer because 
most officers are already accustomed to using 
rate and experience in making gun station as¬ 
signments. They would be doubly weighted if 
they were included in the selectometer. Fur¬ 
thermore, there is a definite difference in policy 
among officers with respect to assignment of 
rated men to gun stations. 

Reliability of Selectometer Ratings . The re¬ 
liability of the selectometer method depends 
not only upon the consistency of the instrument 
itself but upon the accuracy of the operators. 
An experiment to determine the reliability of 
the method was undertaken with two experi¬ 
enced operators. The selectometer raw scores 
for 101 individuals were obtained on two occa¬ 
sions a day or two apart. Product-moment cor¬ 
relations were obtained for four typical posi¬ 
tions: 5"/38 sight-setter, .84; 20 mm gunner, 
.96; 40 mm second and third loader, .97; 20 mm 
trunnion operator, .90. Analysis of the scores 
on which there was variation seemed to indi¬ 
cate that inaccuracies on the part of the oper¬ 
ators constituted the major source of unrelia¬ 
bility. From all the present evidence it appears 
that the consistency of the instrument itself is 
extremely high. 

The accuracy of the light filter method was 
determined by comparing optical selectometer 
scores with those obtained by the punched 
card method described below. For 20 mm gun¬ 
ners (N — 188) the correlation was .90. When 
corrections for errors of operators are consid¬ 
ered, one may conclude that the method of 
using light filters for combining weights is 
highly accurate. 

The ultimate test of the validity of the 
selectometer is the overall comparison of se¬ 
lectometer scores with gun station proficiency 
at sea, especially during combat. Practical con¬ 
siderations made this test of validity impos¬ 
sible. 

The Electrical Selectometer 

Figure 3 is a photograph of a demonstration 
model of the electrical selectometer. In this in¬ 
strument four variables are used. They are 


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DEVICES TO AID MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


113 


height, far vision, age, and GCT, as repre¬ 
sented by the switches on the front panel. Each 
stop of the switch represents a category of the 
variables as indicated in the previous discus¬ 
sion. 

The job switch at the right-hand side of the 
panel includes a sample of jobs with different 
requirements. These are 20 mm gunner, 40 mm 
gun captain, 40 mm pointer, 5"/38 first loader, 
5"/38 passer. 


istic is judged to have for the job. This is, in 
essence, the opposite of the optical selectometer, 
where the current is decreased in proportion to 
the penalty. In the electrical selectometer, a 
resistor is analogous to the filter in the optical 
selectometer; a large resistor which permits 
very little current to pass through is compar¬ 
able to a light filter which reduces the light 
only a small amount, and a very low resistor 
transmitting a large amount of current has the 



Figure 3. The electrical selectometer. 


When an individual's potentialities for vari¬ 
ous jobs are to be determined, the variable 
switches shown in Figure 3 are set for his char¬ 
acteristics. Other variables may be incorporated 
as methods of estimating are developed. The 
job switch is then turned to each job in succes¬ 
sion, and the scores are read directly from the 
meter. These scores may be used in the same 
fashion as those obtained from the optical 
selectometer. 

In the electrical selectometer, current flow¬ 
ing through the meter is increased in propor¬ 
tion to the size of penalty which a character- 


same function as a very dark filter. In other 
words, in the electrical selectometer, no current 
through the ammeter means “Fully Qualified,” 
while maximum current through the meter 
means “Disqualified.” In order to avoid con¬ 
fusion the scale on the meter was reversed, so 
that 50 means qualified, and 0 disqualified. 

The wiring of the instrument is shown in 
Figure 4. For the sake of clarity, only three jobs 
are shown. When the switches are set for a 
variable, a conductor of a certain resistance is 
thrown into the job circuit, thus adding an 
amount of current proportional to the esti- 


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114 


PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 



6 768' 69-70' 
65-66. y .7m' 

G4W V *73 C/P 




/3 UP 



.r 


HEIGHT 


V/S/OAI AGE 

Figure 4. Wiring diagram for optical selectometer. 


GCT 


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DEVICES TO AID MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


115 


mated degree of disqualification. The source of 
current is a 12-volt battery, but ordinary 110- 
volt alternating current through a rectifier tube 
could replace batteries. An ammeter reading 
from 0 to 50 milliamperes is used to measure 
the current flowing in the circuit. 

By means of a special circuit, as indicated 
within dotted lines in Figure 4, the distribu¬ 
tions may be changed so that the limits for 
group scores will be more nearly similar for all 
jobs. The wiring diagram also shows how, by 
the introduction of another power source, cur¬ 
rent may be added to or subtracted from the 
job circuit so that all the scores on one job 
may be lowered or raised by any desired con¬ 
stant amount. By using the shunt resistance 
across the meter at the same time, the sensi¬ 
tivity of the meter is reduced so that the stand¬ 
ard deviation of these scores is lowered. If the 
distributions were all normal, these circuits 
would make it possible to obtain exact standard 
scores directly. 

The original design of both optical and elec¬ 
trical selectometers gave the same weight to a 
category regardless of the scores on other vari¬ 
ables. In certain special instances, it may be 
found desirable to make the weight assigned to 
variable A depend upon the value of variable 
B. In other words, it may be decided that the 
weights should not be assigned to either vari¬ 
able independently but should always be as¬ 
signed to a particular combination of scores on 
the two variables. The method may be extended 
to deal with special combinations of more than 
two variables if necessary. The selectometer 
may, in fact, be constructed to give a certain 
designated score to any combination of any 
number of variables. 4 This procedure will not 
only permit the incorporation in the selectom¬ 
eter of advantages claimed for the profile 
comparison method, but it will standardize the 
procedure in a far more complete fashion than 
a more subjective method ever allows. 

Advantages of the Electrical Design 
over the Optical Design 

1. The electrical instrument is easier to con¬ 
struct ; there are fewer mechanical problems to 
be worked out; the circuit is merely a com¬ 
pound, not a complex, one. 


2. The instrument may be built more com¬ 
pactly than the optical model. 

3. The use of standardized commercial re¬ 
sistors eliminates the problem of having special 
filters developed. These resistors may be ob¬ 
tained commercially with a 5 per cent tolerance 
or may easily be selected for greater accuracy 
if so desired. 

4. The use of '’additional switches would per¬ 
mit incorporation into the instrument of all the 
advantages of the “profile” method in any de¬ 
sired fashion. 

5. The use of circuits to adjust the mean and 
standard deviation of the distributions would 
permit direct reading of scores in either abso¬ 
lute or relative terms. 

6. The electrical instrument is easier to keep 
in adjustment because of its relative mechani¬ 
cal and electrical simplicity. 

Punched Card Weighting of 
Selection Variables 

Since punched cards are in extensive use in 
many classification centers in the Navy, a pro¬ 
cedure was devised to apply this technique to 
the problems of the kind which stimulated the 
development of the selectometer. The use of 
punched cards as described below yields raw 
scores which correlate highly with scores ob¬ 
tained from the present instrument. As indi¬ 
cated earlier, the correlation was .90 for a 20 
mm gunner. 

With the punched card method, the same 
weight numbers may be used as with the opti¬ 
cal selectometer. But the numerical values as¬ 
signed to these weights are as follows: 


Weight 

number 

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 


Numerical 

value 

00 

03 

07 

12 

18 

25 

34 

54 

99 


For each category of every variable, a group of 
cards is gang-punched with the numerical 
value of the weights assigned to this category 


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116 


PRINCIPLES AND DEVICES FOR MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


QUALIFICATIONS card 
DO£, JOHN s '/c 

scr. m 

VISION m/20 
HEIGHT G4 m 


® WITH DATA FROM 
QUALIFICATIONS CARD, 
PREPUNCHED CARDS 
ARE PULLED OUT FROM 
P/6E0H HOLES. CARDS 
ARE PREPUNCHED WITH 
WEIGHTS FOR EACH JOB. 




Fw\ CARDS ARE STACKED 
BOX. HUNDREDS OF 
SELECTED. THESE CARDS 
TO THE IBM. OFFICE. 

IN ORDER IN A 
SETS MAY BE THUS 
ARE THEN SENT 




JOB qualification 

SUMMARY SHEET 

NAME 

OWNER 

SETTER 

LOADER 

mum 

DOE, JOHN S'fc 

F 

4 

5 

/ 

SMITH, JOE S ic 

a 

2 

S 

2 

TAYLOR, JACK S'k 

/ 

2 

3 

7 




THE CARDS ARE TABULATED ON MACHINE 
NO. 405 . DESIRE EACH MANS NAME IS 
PRINTED THE TOTAL WEIGHT FOR EACH 
JOB UNITS DIGIT IS OMtTTEO FOR SIMPLICITY 
SIMULTANEOUSLY TNESE TOTALS ARE SUMMARY 
PUNCHED ON A CARD , ONE PER MAH 



cz 

JACK 

/6 

2C 

S3 

7Z 




C4MMCI 

um 

t mem 

rrmu 

% 


, i 

SMITH, 

JOT 

SC 


SC- 

£/ 

u**m 

urnit 

CJAM9 

nrimm 

tC, 

JOHN 

S3 

44 

SC 

/£ 




***** 

StrrtA 


mum 


/^r\ THE REPORT IS SENT TO 


/g\ SUMMARY CARDS ARE 

THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER 


Vgy INTERPRETED AND 

TO BE USED IN ASSIGNMENT OP 


USED FOR DISTRIBUTIONS, VALID 

MEN TO BATTLE STATIONS 


AT/ONS 0 FURTHER RESEARCH. 


CARDS ARE 
RESORTED AND 
RETURNED TO 
PtGEON HOLE 
CABINET FOR 
USE OVER 
AGAIN 


Figure 5. Graphic outline of punched card method of weighting selection variables. 


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DEVICES TO AID MILITARY CLASSIFICATION 


117 


for each job. The same two columns are 
assigned to each job on all the cards for all 
categories of all variables so that the sum of 
the numbers in any set of two columns will give 
the total score for a job. These prepunched 
cards are filed in a pigeonhole cabinet, each 
hole containing the cards for one category. 

In Figure 5 is presented in graphic form an 
outline of the general method to be followed in 
processing an individual through this classify¬ 
ing procedure. 

Evaluation of the Selectometer 

On the basis of the results obtained with the 
optical selectometer and of the evidence avail¬ 
able from the development of the electrical 
selectometer and the punched card method, an 
evaluation of the application of selectometer 
procedures to classification problems may be 
made. Whether one uses an optical or an elec¬ 
trical model or uses punched cards is a matter of 
convenience. The principles and advantages are 
the same. The chief points are: 

1. The selectometer focuses attention on the 
importance of carefully developed job specifica¬ 
tions. In order to be incorporated into the 
selectometer, job specifications must be stated 
very explicitly. This precise statement facili¬ 
tates the validation of billet specifications. 


2. The selectometer standardizes the use of 
billet specifications. By combining and weight¬ 
ing scores mechanically, it eliminates any in¬ 
dividual differences in the importance attached 
to various characteristics. 

Various weighting techniques for combining 
the variables may be employed. Once the 
weighting technique has been agreed upon, the 
selectometer will follow it uniformly for all 
men. 

3. The selectometer provides a method of 
obtaining qualification scores of each man for 
a number of different jobs. The time required 
to do this task for a large number of men and 
jobs without some partly mechanized system 
would be prohibitive. 

4. Different classification needs can be ac¬ 
commodated by revising weights, adding or sub¬ 
tracting variables, or raising or lowering cutoff 
scores. 

While the selectometer was designed and 
initially used for making gun station assign¬ 
ments it appears to be equally applicable to the 
problem of making school assignments for re¬ 
cruits or, indeed, to help in any classification 
situation in which a large number of men are 
to be sorted into a relatively large number of 
separate groups on the basis of a number of 
different measures. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 12 


ORGANIZATION OF A CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM FOR RECRUITS 

By Norman Frederiksen a 


Summary 

T he procedures followed during World War 
II in classifying and assigning enlisted per¬ 
sonnel in the Navy are briefly described. 
Improved classification would result from: 

1. Using a primary test battery to separate 
the men of school quality from those who should 
be assigned to general detail, and a secondary 
test battery to determine the particular school 
to which each man in the first group should be 
assigned. 

2. Improving the interview by standardizing 
the weighting assigned to various factors on 
which the interviewer’s recommendation is 
based. 

3. Improving the basis for filling school 
quotas by establishing assignment pools and 
by better determination of proper priorities in 
filling quotas. 

4. Continuous research to keep classification 
tests and methods abreast of changing military 
requirements. 

5. Indoctrinating regular officers in modern 
methods of personnel classification. 

12 1 OBJECTIVES AND PROBLEMS OF 
RECRUIT CLASSIFICATION 

The classification officer at an Army Recep¬ 
tion Center or Naval Training Center faces a 
difficult problem during wartime. Every week 
thousands of recruits are brought to the center. 
They represent very nearly the maximum pos¬ 
sible range of variation with respect to almost 
any possible measure except age and physical 
condition. Some are doctors of philosophy, 
while others have never attended school; some 
are geniuses or potential geniuses, while others 
are feeble-minded; some are highly skilled me- 

:i This chapter is based chiefly on the experience of 
NDRC Project N-106 in helping to develop the Navy’s 
classification tests and procedures. 


chanics, engineers, and instrument makers, 
while others are poets, violinists, and artists. 
Within a period of a few days the classification 
officer and his staff are required to evaluate the 
actual or potential abilities of each recruit and 
assign him to that type of military training or 
duty where he will make his greatest contribu¬ 
tion toward the military prosecution of the war. 

In peacetime there may be more time avail¬ 
able to the classification officer, and the weekly 
flow of men may be smaller, but the problems 
of proper classification remain. For the effi¬ 
ciency of a military force depends upon the 
efficiency of the men who compose it. Classify¬ 
ing and assigning each man to the job that he 
can do best will make the whole force an effec¬ 
tive one. 

The objective of military classification is, 
then, to make the most effective use possible of 
manpower. This objective may be accomplished 
by evaluating the aptitudes, abilities, skills, in¬ 
terests, educational and occupational experi¬ 
ence, and physical and personal characteristics 
of each man and on the basis of these evalua¬ 
tions assigning the man to a particular type of 
military training or duty. (Examples of the 
tests used for classification and evidence of 
their value were given in Chapters 2 to 10.) In 
addition, the aim is to make the optimum 
assignment of each man in the minimum 
amount of time. Given sufficient time, men 
might eventually “shake down” or gravitate to 
the billets for which they are best qualified, 
even without careful classification procedures; 
but it is important, particularly in wartime, 
that each man be given a satisfactory assign¬ 
ment as quickly as possible. The saving of time 
in making suitable assignments, especially in 
the early stages of a war, may in effect in¬ 
crease considerably the manpower available 
for combat. 

More specifically, the objectives of classifica¬ 
tion of recruits are to answer such questions as 
the following: 


118 


RESTRICTED 



CLASSIFICATION PROCEDURES IN USE BY THE NAVY 


119 


1. Who (among the thousands of recruits to 
be classified in a particular week) already 
possess sufficient knowledge, skill, and quali¬ 
ties of leadership to warrant their being sent 
immediately to their duties as technicians or 
noncommissioned officers ? 

2. Who possess the aptitudes and intellectual 
qualifications which warrant sending them to 
a Service school for training in some military 
specialty? 

3. Of those who are judged to have the apti¬ 
tudes which warrant specialist Service school 
training, who shall be trained as radarmen, 
who as gunners, who as quartermasters, who 
as tank drivers, who as radio mechanics, etc.? 

4. Who lack the qualities which would justify 
investing time and money in special technical 
training and therefore should be assigned to 
general, nontechnical duty? 

These are samples of the questions which the 
classification officer must answer. The job of 
classifying the recruits is made difficult, not 
only by the fact that the men are coming con¬ 
tinuously in tremendous numbers and must be 
processed within a short period of time, but 
also by various other considerations. For one 
thing, a large proportion of the men have, be¬ 
cause they are young, no background of civilian 
occupational experience which would help in 
making assignments; therefore aptitudes, or 
ability to acquire specific skills, must be evalu¬ 
ated in advance of training. A conscript army 
in peacetime would be composed of young re¬ 
cruits without significant occupational experi¬ 
ence. In the case of older men, occupational 
experience may be a factor which can be used 
in classification; but even then its usefulness is 
limited, since civilian occupations do not bear a 
one-to-one correspondence to military jobs. 
Few if any civilian jobs are similar in nature 
to those of a military gunner or torpedoman. 
Some civilian occupations, such as insurance 
salesmen and textile workers, are available in 
numbers far greater than needed by the Serv¬ 
ices. Furthermore, assignments must some¬ 
times be made to schools where, because of the 
rapidity of development of new military tech¬ 
niques, the aptitudes required and even the 
curriculum taught are not fully known. In 
short, large numbers of men are available whose 


skills and qualifications are not obviously ap¬ 
parent; they must be fitted to a great variety 
of military jobs, some of which require rare or 
unusual aptitudes, or aptitudes which are diffi¬ 
cult to evaluate, or even aptitudes the nature 
of which is not fully known. 

12 2 CLASSIFICATION PROCEDURES IN 
USE BY THE NAVY 

The classification procedures currently in 
used by the Navy 5 ’ 6 are described briefly in this 
section. Treatment of Army classification pro¬ 
cedures is not included because almost all the 
work of the Applied Psychology Panel on re¬ 
cruit classification was done in the Navy. 

Testing and Interviewing 

The recruit is given a physical examination 
(including psychiatric screening) by the Medi¬ 
cal Department soon after his arrival at the 
station. The report is forwarded to the Classifi¬ 
cation Department. In the days which immedi¬ 
ately follow, the recruit spends most of his time 
in activities sponsored by the Selection Depart¬ 
ment: (1) he takes the tests of the U. S. Navy 
Basic Classification Test Battery (see Chapter 
2) ; (2) he listens to lectures and sees movies 
calculated to inform him about the schools and 
rates available to enlisted men; and (3) he fills 
out an “Aid to the Interview Blank” on which 
he describes his educational and occupational 
history and gives other information which the 
classification interviewer may later use in mak¬ 
ing his classification. 

Preparation of Record Forms 

In the meantime, the preparation of two 
important personnel record forms is begun. 
The first of these is the Classification Depart¬ 
ment Electric Accounting Punched Card. In it 
is punched information which the Personnel 
Department supplies—Service number, name, 
rate and grade, company number, etc. As soon 
as the answer sheets for the Basic Battery tests 
have been scored (by means of the test-scoring 
machine), the scores are also punched in the 
card. 

The second personnel record is the Enlisted 


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120 


ORGANIZATION OF A CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM FOR RECRUITS 


Personnel Qualifications Card (Q-card), which, 
when processing is complete, becomes a part of 
the recruit’s permanent Service record which 
accompanies him throughout his service in the 
Navy. The Q-card is printed on continuous form 
stock for use with an electric accounting ma¬ 
chine. By using this machine, the data so far 
punched in the Electric Accounting Card are 
printed on the top two lines of the Q-card. 
Then additional data from the Medical Depart¬ 
ment report and the names of particular 
schools or duties for which the recruit is quali¬ 
fied or disqualified are entered manually. 

The Interview 

The recruit is now ready for the interview, 
which is conducted by a Specialist (C). Spe¬ 
cialists (C) are petty officers who have been 
selected because of special qualifications (such 
as experience with the U. S. Employment Serv¬ 
ice) to serve as classification interviewers. 
They are given a special course of training 
prior to classification work, as well as in-Serv- 
ice training. The interviewer has at hand the 
Aid to the Interview Blank as previously filled 
out by the recruit, and the Q-card which is 
partially processed as described above. During 
the interview the Specialist (C) adds to the 
Q-card additional information pertaining to 
educational and occupational history, hobbies, 
and the like. 

Recommending Assignments 

Now comes the most important function of 
the Specialist (C). He makes recommendations, 
on the basis of all the information so far ob¬ 
tained, as to the assignment of the recruit. The 
success or failure of the classification procedure 
hinges largely on the wisdom of these recom¬ 
mendations. 

The interviewer ordinarily makes two recom¬ 
mendations on the basis of the recruit’s test 
scores, his occupational experienced physical 

b A booklet called United States Navy Occupational 
Conversion Tables (October 17, 1942) has been pre¬ 
pared for the purpose of aiding the interviewer in 
evaluating civilian work experience. This booklet gives 
the Navy rates which are related to a large number 
of the job titles in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles 
of the U. S. Employment Service. 


qualifications, interests, etc. The first recom¬ 
mendation represents the most appropriate 
assignment, in the opinion of the Specialist 
(C), and the second recommendation repre¬ 
sents the next most appropriate assignment. 
The recommendations may be for assignment 
to general detail, to an elementary Service 
school, or to an operational school. 

In addition to making specific recommenda¬ 
tions, a Quality Classification Code is assigned 
to each recruit by the Specialist (C) ; this code 
is supposed to be a qualitative rating in terms 
of the recommended assignment. Code 1 is used 
to designate men judged to be exceptionally 
well qualified for the recommended school as¬ 
signment. Code 2 men are, in general, as well 
qualified as Code 1 men but lack a “definite pat¬ 
tern of qualification” and therefore can be as¬ 
signed to a school similar to that of the first 
recommendation. Code 3 men do not have the 
high qualifications of the above groups for the 
recommended assignment but are sufficiently 
well qualified for assignment if needed. In addi¬ 
tion, codes may be assigned which indicate 
recommendations that the man be rated, that 
he be held for reassignment, or that he be re¬ 
interviewed, perhaps by a psychiatrist. The 
classification of the man may also be postponed 
until special tests can be given; this is done in 
the case of men tentatively selected for a cer¬ 
tain school on the basis of Q-card data. Code 0 
indicates lack of qualifications for school 
assignment; this quality classification always 
accompanies a recommendation of assignment 
to general detail. 

The recommendations and Quality Classifi¬ 
cation Code are recorded by the Specialist (C) 
on the Q-card, and later punched into the Elec¬ 
tric Accounting Card. These punched cards are 
now ready for sorting. 


12 2 3 Filling Quotas 

As soon as possible, a summary of the recom¬ 
mendations is sent by teletype to the Enlisted 
Distribution Division of the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel. At the Bureau, quotas are made up, 
on the basis of fleet demands and the number of 
men recommended for Service school at each of 


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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE NAVY'S CLASSIFICATION PROCEDURES 121 


the various naval training centers. Then the 
Bureau sends to the Selection Department its 
quotas—the number of men who must be sent 
to each of the various duties and training activ¬ 
ities. 

The Order of Assignment 

It is, of course, not likely that for a given 
week the distribution of Service school quotas 
will match the distribution of recommended 
school assignments. A specified order of 
assignment which may be applied in making 
assignments to any Service school has there¬ 
fore been developed. In filling quotas, the cards 
are sorted and men selected according to the 
following order: 

1. 1st recommendation, quality class 1 

2. 1st recommendation, quality class 2 

3. 2nd recommendation, quality class 1 

4. 2nd recommendation, quality class 2 

5. 1st recommendation group, quality 

class 1 

6. 1st recommendation group, quality 

class 2 

7. 2nd recommendation group, quality 

class 1 

8. 2nd recommendation group, quality 

class 2 

9. 1st recommendation, quality class 3 

10. 2nd recommendation, quality class 3 

11. 1st recommendation group, quality 

class 3 

12. 2nd recommendation group, quality 

class 3 

If a quota for quartermaster school, for ex¬ 
ample, were to be filled, the cards would be 
arranged according to the order of assignment, 
and the quality class “1” men whose first 
recommendation is quartermaster would be 
chosen. If sufficient cards are found to fill the 
quota, the job is finished so far as quarter¬ 
master school is concerned, and one can go on 
to another school's quota. But if there are not 
enough quality class “1” men whose first 
recommendation is quartermaster, it is neces¬ 
sary to make further selections; quality class 
“2" men recommended for quartermaster 
school would next be picked out, and so on. By 
“first recommendation group" is meant a 
group of schools with selection requirements 


similar to those of the school recommended 
first; for example, if the quartermaster quota 
had not been filled after choosing men in the 
first four categories of the order of assignment, 
the next step would be to sort out quality class 
“1" men recommended for schools in the same 
group as quartermaster—aerographer’s mate 
or Specialist (Y) control tower operator 
schools. 

Completing the Personnel Records 

After the cards have been sorted to fill all 
quotas, the selection lists are printed from the 
cards by means of the electric accounting ma¬ 
chine. The assignment and date of transfer are 
punched in the cards, which are then dupli¬ 
cated. One card is filed by the Classification De¬ 
partment and the duplicate goes with the man 
to his Service school assignment; these dupli¬ 
cate cards are later used for research purposes. 
The Q-card is photographed and then inserted 
in the man’s service record; the film is sent to 
the Navy Department. 


12 3 SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVE¬ 
MENT OF THE NAVY’S CLASSI¬ 
FICATION PROCEDURES 

A good deal of the research 4 on recruit clas¬ 
sification has been based on the punched cards 
which were mentioned above. This research, to¬ 
gether with firsthand observation of procedures 
and talks with classification officers, has led to 
a number of suggestions for improvement of 
the Navy classification procedures. Some of the 
more general suggestions are discussed in the 
following section. 


12 3 1 Use of Primary and Secondary 
Test Batteries 

The first suggestion for improvement of the 
classification program is based on the diffi¬ 
culties that are inherent in using one basic bat¬ 
tery of aptitude tests for all the various pur¬ 
poses involved in selection. Use of the same 
tests for such diverse purposes as separating 
school from nonschool material and separating 


RESTRICTED 



122 


ORGANIZATION OF A CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM FOR RECRUITS 


candidates for fire control school from candi¬ 
dates for torpedo school is likely to result in 
tests which are not entirely suitable for either 
purpose. Furthermore, administration of the 
entire battery to the large group of men who 
will not go to Service school is wasteful of test¬ 
ing and test-scoring time. 

It is possible to administer a greater variety 
of tests without increasing the total time spent 
in test administration by the device of using a 
short primary battery of tests for the purpose 
of selecting the school material, and using sec¬ 
ondary test batteries for the purpose of assign¬ 
ing men to specific Service schools. 

The details of such a program as is here 
suggested would of course have to be modified 
in accordance with research findings; the fol¬ 
lowing suggestions’are tentative. 

The Primary Test Battery 

The primary battery, which would be ad¬ 
ministered to all recruits, might consist of only 
two tests: a purely verbal test, somewhat like 
the present General Classification Test, and a 
mechanical test, which might consist of items 
resembling the pictorial items of the present 
Mechanical Knowledge Test. This second test 
might be entirely a picture test, in order to 
lower its correlation with the verbal test as 
much as possible. Item analysis techniques 
should be used, in developing these tests, to 
ensure as low a correlation as possible between 
the verbal and the mechanical tests. This 
primary battery of two tests could then be 
used to separate those men who are unlikely 
to succeed in any type of Service school from 
those who are likely to succeed in some Service 
school. (The cutting scores, selection ratios, or 
other devices would of course have to be de¬ 
termined on the basis of research investiga¬ 
tions.) 

The primary battery would be useful, not 
only for identifying the men who are the best 
risks so far as Service school success is con¬ 
cerned, but also to classify these men into 
groups depending upon the general type of 
Service school for which they should be con¬ 
sidered. The scheme might work somewhat as 
follows: men low on both verbal and mechanical 


tests should be assigned to general detail; men 
who are high on verbal but low on mechanical 
should be considered as candidates for a 
“clerical” type school (yeoman, signalman, 
radioman, etc.) ; men who are high on mechani¬ 
cal but low on verbal should be considered as 
candidates for a “mechanical” type of school 
(gunners mate, basic engineering, electrical, 
metalsmith, etc.) ; and men who are high in 
both should be considered as candidates for the 
more highly technical schools (fire control, 
radio materiel, etc.). 

The Secondary Test Batteries 

The next step in classification would be to 
administer to the men in each group a sec¬ 
ondary battery of tests especially designed to 
aid in assignments to schools within that 
group; for example, the men in the clerical 
groups might be given a battery of tests in¬ 
cluding a clerical test, a spelling test, a radio 
code aptitude test, and a blinker aptitude test. 
The men in other groups would similarly be 
given batteries of tests appropriately selected 
to aid in assignment to the schools of the group. 

Administering a primary and a secondary 
test battery would take no longer than the 
present method of administering every test to 
every man. Some men would take only the 
primary battery; the others would, in general, 
take no more tests than they do at present. This 
system would probably result in more valid 
tests, since each could be designed for a specific 
purpose. It also admits the possibility of greater 
use of individual tests, because, by subdividing 
the number of men to whom a secondary test 
battery must be given is considerably reduced. 
The objection to the procedure is that problems 
of scheduling are involved. It would no longer 
be possible to order an entire company to take 
a single battery of tests. Methods would have 
to be evolved for assigning men to take tests 
individually instead of by companies. 


12.3.2 Improvement of the Interview 

A second suggestion for the improvement of 
the classification procedure arises from cer- 


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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE NAVY’S CLASSIFICATION PROCEDURES 123 


tain researches which seem to indicate that as¬ 
signment to Service schools on the basis of test 
scores alone would result in somewhat more 
successful classification than assignment on the 
basis of interviewers’ recommendations. 2 * 3 The 
interviewers, it seems, tend to weight too heav¬ 
ily the information they themselves obtain, at 
the expense of the aptitude test scores. Fairly 
rigid requirements with respect to use of test 
scores should, accordingly, be set up, and the 
interviewers should be required to follow these 
standards. Furthermore, these studies suggest 
the importance of further study of the validity 
of the other items of information on the Q-card, 
and if the results justify it there should be set 
up specific rules for weighting each item of 
information in making the school recommenda¬ 
tion. 

A standardized procedure for evaluating 
the various factors that are significant in mak¬ 
ing an assignment was developed by one of the 
Applied Psychology Panel projects. 1 The pro¬ 
cedure, called a point-score method, involves 
the assignment of uniform weights to carefully 
selected and explicitly stated factors. Evalua¬ 
tions based on such a procedure would certainly 
be far more reliable and objective than the 
ordinary interview evaluation. The validity of 
the procedure would depend upon the care with 
which the factors and their weights are se¬ 
lected. The objection to the method is that the 
factors and weightings would vary from one 
assignment to another and points would need 
to be assigned separately for every assignment 
considered. 

Improvement of Procedures 
Involved in Filling Quotas 

The third suggestion pertains to the quota 
system of allocating recruits to various activi¬ 
ties. As was described above, the fact that 
quota distributions fail to match the recom¬ 
mended school assignment distribution has 
necessitated the use of a complex Order of 
Assignment by which the sortings progres¬ 
sively take men less and less well qualified for 
the assignment. In practice, not only were all 
twelve categories of the order of assignment 


used, but it was sometimes necessary to go 
beyond this order and take men recommended 
for general detail or for schools entirely outside 
the Order of Assignment categories. 2 

Improving Procedures for 
Determining Quotas 

The situation could be vastly improved by 
two courses of action. The first and most funda¬ 
mental of these steps is to improve the pro¬ 
cedures for setting up the quotas themselves. 
(This is, of course, not a responsibility of the 
Classification Department.) In the past it has 
sometimes appeared that quotas were deter¬ 
mined in a somewhat whimsical fashion; the 
quota for a given school might suddenly double 
or triple in size, while a large quota for another 
school might suddenly disappear entirely. 
More adequate canvassing to determine fleet 
needs well in advance, together with careful 
study of the summaries of recommendations 
supplied by local selection officers, would go a 
long way toward making it possible to assign 
most men to the training for which they have 
been more specifically recommended. 

The problem of priorities in filling quotas 
needs careful consideration. At present little 
or no data are available on the quality of men 
needed for various types of duty; yet definite 
priorities have in effect been established. The 
“Eddy Test” for pre-radio materiel school 
candidates is administered at the time of in¬ 
duction, thus making it possible to make an 
early selection of only very high quality men 
for these schools. Fairly high cutting scores 
on Basic Battery tests have been set for all 
enlisted personnel given air training assign¬ 
ments. Men for the amphibious forces and 
armed guard, on the other hand, are assigned 
after the best men have been chosen for other 
schools, and those left tend to be of rather low 
caliber. This establishment of priorities in 
classification no doubt has some justification; 
but no data as yet exist which indicate whether 
or not men of high quality are needed for radio 
materiel more than, for example, fire control 
or that they are needed more by the air arm 
than for surface ships. It would seem that 
every branch of the Service needs at least some 


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124 


ORGANIZATION OF A CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM FOR RECRUITS 


men of high quality; although the proportion 
may vary, competent men are needed to pro¬ 
vide leadership in each branch. Research is 
needed to answer such questions and eventually 
to determine more precisely how men with 
various degrees of competence should be dis¬ 
tributed. 

Establishing an Assignment Pool 

A second course of action which would help 
in ensuring the assignment of more men to 
their recommended duty would be the establish¬ 
ment of a pool of men whose classification has 
been completed and who are awaiting assign¬ 
ment. The present practice at most centers is 
to assign the men classified each week on the 
basis of that week's quota demands. Delaying 
assignment only one week would go a long way 
toward making it possible to compensate for 
fluctuations in quotas. Such a pool was estab¬ 
lished in an unofficial way at one center, with 
good results; it would have been done at other 
centers but for the lack of space in which to 
house the men. With the existence of a pool 
from which to draw and with quotas which are 
made up with due consideration of long-term 
fleet needs and available men, it should be pos¬ 
sible to select all men on the basis of the first 
half of the Order of Assignment and thus to 
place a much larger proportion of the men in 
duties for which they are recommended. 

A pool of men from which quotas can be filled 
could easily be established merely by making 
men available for assignment any time during, 
say, the last three weeks of basic training. The 
flexibility needed for filling quotas would thus 
be accomplished without the necessity of addi¬ 
tional housing facilities. The time of the men 
in the “poor’ would be occupied by training 
while awaiting assignment. The only disad¬ 
vantage is that the period of basic training 
might be shortened somewhat for some of the 
men. 


The Need for Research 

The need for research on classification pro¬ 
cedures has been mentioned several times in the 
foregoing paragraphs. In order to keep selec¬ 
tion procedures abreast of changes in methods 
and techniques of warfare, a permanent organi¬ 
zation for conducting a continuing program of 
research is needed. 


Indoctrination of Officers 

In order for the values of a good classifica¬ 
tion procedure to be fully utilized and to be of 
maximum service in efficient utilization of 
military manpower, it is necessary that officers 
outside as well as in the Classification Depart¬ 
ment have some understanding of classification 
procedures and sympathy with the objectives 
of classification. The consequence of lack of un¬ 
derstanding is revealed by an extreme case 
where the classification of a large group of men 
had been completed and the assignments re¬ 
ported to the Personnel Department. The Per¬ 
sonnel Department, however, ignored the 
assignment lists and made their own assign¬ 
ments on the purely arbitrary basis of alpha¬ 
betization of names. The indoctrination of such 
a large and varied group of men as the officers 
in the United States Navy is, of course, a diffi¬ 
cult task, especially in the hurry of wartime 
training. A few weeks' training in classifica¬ 
tion and personnel procedures might be of very 
little value when given along with navigation, 
gunnery, communications, and a host of other 
important subjects in an indoctrination school. 
In peacetime, however, it would be possible to 
train the majority of the future officers of the 
Navy who would become the key men in the 
event of another war. This training can and 
should be started at the U. S. Naval Academy 
at Annapolis. 


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Chapter 13 

ORGANIZATION OF AN ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM 

By Norman FrederiJcsen a 


Summary 

T he methods used by the Navy in advanced 
classification and reclassification of enlisted 
personnel are briefly described. 

Several Applied Psychology Panel projects 
have contributed procedures or recommenda¬ 
tions for the improvement of advanced classifi¬ 
cation. The principal ones are: 

1. More extensive construction and use of 
objective methods of determining the actual 
proficiency with which a man can perform the 
duties of a particular billet. A number of ex¬ 
amples of performance tests developed for this 
purpose are described. 

2. Improvement in the methods of rating 
shipboard proficiency. There are situations in 
which performance tests cannot be used but in 
which ratings by superiors can be obtained. 
Methods of obtaining more reliable ratings are 
given. 

3. Use of brief oral tests, called work readi¬ 
ness tests, which can be administered by a clas¬ 
sification interviewer to determine how much 
a man knows about the details of a particular 
type of duty. 

4. The indoctrination of line officers in the 
methods and information already available 
which they could use in making shipboard re¬ 
assignments. 

5. Improved methods for coding and filing 
the personnel data available for the men as¬ 
signed to a particular ship or unit make those 
data more easily available and more likely to be 
used. 

131 OBJECTIVES AND PROBLEMS OF 
ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION 

The objectives, problems, and techniques of 
advanced classification are in general similar 

a This chapter summarizes the contributions and rec¬ 
ommendations of a number of Applied Psychology Panel 
projects. 


to those of recruit classification, which was 
discussed in the preceding chapter. Both are 
concerned with the assignment of men, on the 
basis of actual or potential abilities, to those 
types of military training or duty where they 
can make their greatest contribution to the 
winning of a war. Both are concerned with 
achieving the optimum assignment for each 
man in the minimum amount of time. 

The differences, however, are sufficiently 
great to justify their separate discussion. The 
procedures involved in the classification of re¬ 
cruits are concerned primarily with the evalu¬ 
ation of a man's potentialities for training , 
since the majority of recruits have had no 
training or experience directly related to Navy 
jobs; advanced classification procedures, on the 
other hand, more often involve the evaluation 
of training and experience in the Navy with 
respect to a specific duty or billet. Assignments 
in recruit classification are based upon infor¬ 
mation rather hurriedly obtained through tech¬ 
niques of aptitude testing and interviewing 
while advanced classification assignments can 
be based to a greater extent on actual profi¬ 
ciency in Navy jobs, as reflected in records of 
performance in a training situation, in a billet 
aboard ship, or on tests of proficiency. Ad¬ 
vanced classification, furthermore, should in¬ 
volve the balancing of crews so that all ships 
and departments have their fair share of su¬ 
perior men as well as those of average or in¬ 
ferior ability. 

Advanced classification is at once more com¬ 
plex and more simple than recruit classifica¬ 
tion. It is more complex in that the specific 
assignments that can be made are more varied 
and depend upon a greater variety of measures. 
They are simpler in the fact that assignments 
can be based more often on measures of pro¬ 
ficiency in a given task, rather than on predic¬ 
tions of success from measures of aptitude. 

Advanced classification may be thought of as 
including any classification procedures that 


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12S 



126 


ORGANIZATION OF AN ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM 


occur other than the original assignment of the 
recruit to some duty or training. Since a man 
may be reclassified a number of times during 
his career in the Navy, advanced classification 
is seen to be an activity which pervades all 
parts of the Navy, both ashore and afloat, and 
which is of even greater magnitude than the 
task of recruit classification. Some typical 
questions which might be answered by ad¬ 
vanced classification are as follows: 

1. Who among the members of the crew of 
a DD are qualified to use sound-powered tele¬ 
phones ? 

2. What battle station should be assigned to 
each crew member? 

3. Who from a pool of available men should 
be assigned to each billet on a ship which is 
about to be commissioned? 

4. What men should be recommended for 
striker billets? 

5. What transfers between ships should be 
effected in order to obtain equitable distribu¬ 
tion of abilities? 

6. What men need special operational or 
advanced training to prepare them for assign¬ 
ment to the departments, divisions, or battle 
stations aboard ship for which they are recom¬ 
mended ? 

7. What men should be assigned to ships’ 
company billets at shore stations? 

8. What men need refresher training to keep 
them up to high standards of proficiency in 
their billets? 

9. What men should be selected for officer 
candidate training (such as the V-12 pro¬ 
gram) ? 

10. What members of the crew have useful 
occupational skills or special abilities (inter¬ 
preters, speedboat coxswains, cartographers, 
mechanical draftsmen, barbers, movie oper¬ 
ators, entertainers) which are not indicated by 
rate, and how can these men be picked out 
when needed? 

11. What men meet the minimum standards 
of visual acuity and night vision for duty as 
night lookouts? 

These questions are representative of those 
which must be answered in advanced classifi¬ 
cation activities. The procedures currently in 
use by the Navy for supplying the answers to 


such questions are described in the following 
section. 

132 ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION 
PROCEDURES IN THE NAVY 21 

Advanced classification centers are located 
at receiving stations, training stations, Navy 
yards, operating bases, and other centers where 
personnel may be assigned to specific duties. 
The staff of the classification center processes 
all men who pass through the station to which 
the classification center is attached, and also, 
in some cases, men attached to other nearby 
shore stations or ships. The processing includes 
the administration of tests, interviewing, 
bringing the Enlisted Personnel Qualifications 
Cards up to date, and making specific recom¬ 
mendations as to the assignment of each man. 

Test Administration 

The general policy with respect to test ad¬ 
ministration is to make sure that the record 
of test scores on the Enlisted Personnel Qualifi¬ 
cations Card (Q-card) is complete. If Basic 
Battery test scores are already recorded on a 
man’s card, the tests are not readministered 
(unless there is evidence that the scores are in 
error). According to directive, if any of the 
scores are lacking, the appropriate tests should 
be given and the scores entered. In addition to 
Basic Battery tests, various other group tests 
may be given when appropriate, for instance 
the Radio Technician Selection Test, the 
Winchman and Hatchman Test, Oral Trade 
Questions, and the Literacy Test. A number of 
special apparatus tests are also available, such 
as the Sonar Pitch-Memory Test, the Telephone 
Talker Test, and various visual tests for meas¬ 
uring such variables as acuity, phoria, depth 
perception, and color discrimination. 

13 2 2 Interviewing and Recommending 
Assignments 

One important function of the interviewer 
is to bring up to date the Q-card, adding any 
missing information which should have been 
recorded when the card was first prepared and 


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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION 


127 


filling in the more recent history of naval ex¬ 
perience and training. Cards which are obso¬ 
lete or inaccurate are replaced. On the basis of 
the Q-card information, including test scores 
and records of experience and training, the 
interviewer then recommends assignment of 
the man to some duty or billet. The interview¬ 
er’s general evaluation of the man’s perform¬ 
ance is also taken into account. The type of 
assignment will depend in part on the particu¬ 
lar situation—if a man is a member of a ship’s 
crew which is being processed, the recommen¬ 
dations would be in terms of that ship’s watch, 
quarter, and station bill. The recommendation 
is made by matching the qualifications pos¬ 
sessed by the man to the requirements of a 
particular billet; this can be done well only if 
the interviewer is well acquainted with the 
requirements for each billet. For example, he 
must know whether or not use of sound-pow¬ 
ered phones is involved in a particular assign¬ 
ment ; if so, the man assigned to that billet must 
be rated as a qualified telephone talker as well 
as meet the other specifications for the billet. 

In addition to recommending billet assign¬ 
ments for each man who is processed, the ad¬ 
vanced classification center may perform other 
services. Recommendations may be made for 
striker or petty officer billets; a recommended 
battle bill may be prepared in which specific 
general quarters stations are recommended; 
cross index files of potential strikers may be 
prepared (arranged according to both names 
and shipboard ratings) ; and cross-index files 
of special skills may be developed. 


13 2 3 Indoctrination of Ship Personnel 

The classification center furthermore at¬ 
tempts to make provision for the continuation 
of the classification program aboard ship, 
through the indoctrination of ships’ officers as 
well as by providing cross index files for use 
aboard ship. In particular, one officer from each 
ship, designated by the commanding officer to 
serve as shipboard classification officer, is 
given special training in the use of the avail¬ 
able data for selecting strikers, assigning bil¬ 
lets and battle stations, and effecting transfers 


among divisions. A shipboard classification 
yeoman is also trained to process Q-cards, ad¬ 
minister and score tests, and keep up-to-date 
cross index files and files of Q-cards. 

The above is a brief account of advanced 
classification procedures. The various advanced 
classification centers actually differ somewhat 
in their mode of operation, because of local 
variations in equipment, personnel, and prob¬ 
lems. Some are more effective than others be¬ 
cause of better cooperation with other related 
departments. Some have been particularly suc¬ 
cessful in furthering the benefits of classifica¬ 
tion through indoctrination of shipboard offi¬ 
cers, while others have failed to take steps to 
ensure the continuation of the program aboard 
ship. 


13 3 SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVE¬ 
MENT OF ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION 

The suggestions for improvement of ad¬ 
vanced classification procedures which are con¬ 
tained in this section are not new ideas; in 
many cases, the officers in charge of classifi¬ 
cation are fully aware of the problems and 
have already taken appropriate steps to correct 
the undesirable situations. However, the 
Applied Psychology Panel has made contribu¬ 
tions in cooperation with classification officers; 
some of these contributions are discussed below. 


Use of Proficiency Measures 

As was stated earlier, advanced classification 
has the advantage, which recruit classification 
does not, that the men to be assigned have been 
in the Navy for some period of time; it is 
therefore possible to make use of evaluations 
of their Navy experience in making assign¬ 
ments. It is of some value merely to know, for 
example, that a man has graduated from a 
class A gunners mate school and served as first 
loader of a 40 mm gun; but it would be con¬ 
siderably more important to know in addition 
how well he could carry out the duties of a 
gunners mate—how frequently he caused jams 
through improper loading, how adept he was at 


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128 


ORGANIZATION OF AN ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM 


casualty analysis, and how quickly he could re¬ 
place broken extractors. If he is exceptionally 
proficient, he might be recommended as gun 
captain; but if, as is entirely possible, he is 
shown to be inept, he might be recommended 
for some quite different type of duty. 

Optimal assignments are most likely to be 
made when adequate measures of proficiency 
are available. Prediction of success in a given 
activity based on knowledge of past success 
in that activity is more likely to be correct than 
is prediction based on aptitude tests or on rec¬ 
ords which show merely the amount of relevant 
experience. Advanced classification has an ad¬ 
vantage over recruit classification in that the 
men to be assigned have been in the Navy for 
some time. It is therefore possible to use evalu¬ 
ations of their Navy experience in making 
assignments. The first suggestion for improv¬ 
ing advanced classification is that greater use 
be made of measures of proficiency in Naval 
duties. 

Performance Tests 

In the case of certain Navy rates, proficiency 
in the rate can be measured fairly adequately 
by means of one or two performance tests; 
often one test is adequate to measure profi¬ 
ciency in that aspect of the duty which is cru¬ 
cial, i.e., which is the most common reason for 
ineptitude. In some cases these tests are of 
such a nature that they could be administered 
at advanced classification centers; in other 
cases they could most efficiently be given at 
operational or advanced training activities. The 
following paragraphs describe several illustra¬ 
tive performance tests. 

Radio Code Receiving Tests. A set of radio 
code receiving tests recorded on phonograph 
records, which was developed by the Applied 
Psychology Panel, is suitable for measuring the 
accuracy with which operators can copy plain 
language and message-type (coded) material 
sent at approximately the same speed as is used 
for U. S. Navy “Fox Schedule” broadcasts. 19 
This test would be very useful at a classifica¬ 
tion center for determining the relative profi¬ 
ciency of radiomen and radiomen strikers and 
recommending their assignment to particular 
billets. A certain amount of special equipment 


(phonograph turntable with pickup and ampli¬ 
fier, headphones, and telegraphic typewriters) 
is needed, but the test could easily be admin¬ 
istered and scored by a Specialist (C). A previ¬ 
ous set of tests of a similar nature 5 was used in 
one Operational Training Command to assist 
in assigning balanced crews of radiomen to 
ships. 

Signalman Tests. It would be possible to de¬ 
velop tests for signalmen which could be used 
for similar purposes. Flag hoist spotting tests 
have already been developed by the Standards 
and Curriculum Section of the Bureau of Naval 
Personnel; these consist of colored slides of 
flag hoists which can be projected, and the men 
can be required to record the messages. This 
test and other signaling tests are so far used 
only in class A signalman schools but probably 
could be adapted for use at advanced classifi¬ 
cation centers. 

Telephone Talker Test. The only perform¬ 
ance test of proficiency which has been used 
extensively in advanced classification proce¬ 
dures is the Telephone Talker Test, 1 which was 
prepared by the Applied Psychology Panel. 
Specially trained men are used in administer¬ 
ing this test; the test is given by conducting an 
interview over sound-powered phones. The 
testee is required, during the interview, to re¬ 
peat Naval commands commonly used aboard 
ship, to read a paragraph containing all the 
phonetic sounds in American speech, and to 
speak extemporaneously. He is rated on loud¬ 
ness, rate, articulation, etc.; on listening abil¬ 
ity; and on memory span. Finally a rating of 
“well qualified,” “qualified,” or “not qualified” 
is given. The coordination of various depart¬ 
ments of a ship through transmitting orders 
by sound-powered telephone accurately and 
understandably is obviously of great impor¬ 
tance ; the elimination of poor telephone talkers 
from billets which require the use of telephonic 
communication is essential to the safety of a 
ship and its success in combat. 

Gunnery Proficiency Tests. Some types of 
proficiency tests require gear and personnel 
which would make testing impractical as part 
of the activities of the classification center it¬ 
self. This need not, however, prevent the admin¬ 
istration and use of such measures. The tests 


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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION 


129 


can be given at the termination of the training 
period in an operational or class A school, and, 
if the results are entered in the men’s service 
records, they can be employed just as success¬ 
fully as if given at the classification center by 
classification personnel. 

For example, tests have been developed for 
measuring proficiency in each of the three jobs 
involved in operation of the 20 mm gun—the 
jobs of gunner, loader, and sightsetter. b The 
battery consists of four tests—Dry Tracking, 
Tracer Position Estimation, Range Estima¬ 
tion, and Dry Loading. Men in destroyer pools 
are sent to antiaircraft training centers for 
training in operational gunnery. It would be 
quite feasible to give the 20 mm gunnery pro¬ 
ficiency test battery at the termination of this 
training and to send the results to the classifi¬ 
cation center which is attached to the destroyer 
pool. The classification center could then rec¬ 
ommend assignment to gunnery billets on the 
basis of measured proficiency, rather than 
merely on such variables as Basic Battery test 
scores, height, weight, vision, civilian experi¬ 
ence, and interests. It is quite feasible to de¬ 
velop and use in a similar manner proficiency 
tests in operational gunnery for the larger 
guns for director personnel. 

Achievement Testing at a Landing Craft 
School. A situation which is particularly apt 
for illustrating the possibility of improving 
classification by use of proficiency measures 
was found at a school for training crews of 
landing craft. 18 At this school the crews are 
trained for Landing Craft, Vehicle-Personnel 
(LCVP’s). The crew of an LCVP consists of a 
coxswain, a signalman, a deckhand, and an en¬ 
gineer. (The engineer’s billet requires special¬ 
ized training, not given at this school; so the 
selection of engineers will not be considered 
here.) All the men (except engineers) are 
given essentially the same training for the first 
four weeks, since it is desirable that any man 
be able to take over the duty of any other, in 
event of a casualty. After the first four weeks, 
training becomes more specialized, with men 


b These tests were developed by Project N-106 of the 
Applied Psychology Panel; the work is being continued 
by the College Entrance Examination Board under a 
contract with the Navy Department. 


designated as coxswains spending relatively 
more time in boat operation, signalmen in 
learning semaphore, blinker, etc., and deck¬ 
hands in learning seamanship. 

The classification procedure in use was to 
select men for each billet prior to any training; 
classification was based on age, physique, vision, 
previous experience, and Basic Battery test 
scores. This procedure was used in spite of the 
fact that the situation was made-to-order for 
selection on the basis of achievement during 
the first four weeks of training. The recom¬ 
mendation was made by the Panel project, 
after certain achievement tests were intro¬ 
duced, that signalmen be selected after the pre¬ 
liminary training which is common to all men, 
and that the selection be based in large part on 
signaling proficiency as shown by achievement 
test scores. A similar procedure could be used 
for selecting coxswains, if suitable measures of 
proficiency in maneuvering an LCVP after 
four weeks of training could be developed. The 
men not chosen for either coxswain or signal¬ 
man billets would become deckhands, which is 
the least specialized of the LCVP assignments. 

Achievement Testing in Other Schools. The 
use of grades in class A or P schools and in 
advanced schools as a factor in selection is a 
possibility which has not been seriously con¬ 
sidered in advanced classification procedures. 
Unless the school grades are more carefully de¬ 
termined than is usually the case, it is entirely 
proper not to consider them. However, steps 
have been taken by Panel projects, working in 
cooperation with Naval officers, to improve 
Service school grades, particularly by supply¬ 
ing tests, both of the performance and paper- 
pencil variety. Given school grades whose mean¬ 
ing is standardized and which are based on test 
situations resembling the shipboard working 
situations, it would seem that classification 
might be improved through consideration of 
school grade. 

Studies of the validity of classification pro¬ 
cedures by correlating the measures used in 
classification with some measures of success 
in shipboard duties have rarely been made, 
mainly because of the difficulty of achieving a 
suitable criterion of performance in the fleet. 
One study, 16 however, showed that grades made 


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130 


ORGANIZATION OF AN ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM 


in submarine training courses are of some 
value in predicting ratings by submarine offi¬ 
cers of the performance of enlisted men aboard 
ship—of greater value, in fact, than any of the 
other predictive factors studied. This was in 
spite of the fact that standardized tests of 
proficiency were not used in determining school 
grades. 

In a number of the Navy’s class A schools 
a definite attempt has been made to improve 
school grades—by issuing directives describing 
in detail what is to be included in school grades 
and, more important, by devising tests by which 
knowledge and skills can be accurately eval¬ 
uated. 2 * 3 - 9 ’ 12 > 14 > 17 > 19 Also in the operational 
schools of the Amphibious Training Command, 
Atlantic Fleet, definite progress has been made 
in developing school grades of increased relia¬ 
bility and validity . 11 The use of school grades 
which are based on well-designed performance 
tests and written examinations should be of 
considerable value in making assignments; pro¬ 
vision should be made for standardizing grad¬ 
ing systems, reporting the grades to advanced 
classification centers, and using them along 
with other measures in making assignments. 

If certain of the performance tests on specific 
pieces of gear (such as disassembly-assembly 
of a torpedo main engine) are of sufficiently 
high reliability, it might be well to report their 
scores separately. The more nearly the meas¬ 
ures of proficiency can be made to correlate 
with specific shipboard assignments, the greater 
their value to classification centers. 

Ratings of Shipboard Proficiency 

The measures of proficiency so far discussed 
have been of the sort that could most efficiently 
be administered in connection with a training 
program. Many of the men to be processed in 
an advanced classification program come di¬ 
rectly from the fleet, and considerable time 
may have elapsed since the termination of 
training and hence the determination of pro¬ 
ficiency by means of performance tests. It is 
highly important that proficiency measures 
used for making assignments be recent; in the 
time spent aboard ship following the comple¬ 
tion of training, skills may change markedly 
in either direction. Shipboard experience may 


result in significant improvement; or, if the 
shipboard experience was of a type which did 
not furnish opportunity for practice, the skill 
may definitely deteriorate. In the case of a 
radioman, for example, proficiency in receiving 
code may drop significantly even in the time 
intervening between completion of training and 
assignment to a billet, unless provision is made 
for refresher drill . 22 

The use of performance tests aboard ship is 
of course possible, and for some billets per¬ 
formance tests perhaps should be given rou¬ 
tinely and the results recorded on the man’s 
service record, with the date, for use in later 
classification. In wartime, however, elaborate 
routines of test administration aboard ship 
may not be feasible, and a more convenient 
procedure for evaluating performance is needed. 
The use of rating methods would provide the 
means for making such evaluations. 

The Need for Training of Raters. The com¬ 
mon errors in ratings (halo effect, error of 
leniency, etc.) are well enough known that a 
detailed discussion of them is not necessary 
here. It is probably sufficient to say that ratings 
of proficiency in shipboard jobs will be useful 
in advanced classification only to the extent 
that care is taken in planning the rating scales 
and training the raters in their use. Only 
through careful work can ratings of acceptable 
reliability and validity be obtained. 

The training of officers or petty officers who 
make the ratings is essential in order to obtain 
valid and reliable ratings. Training should in¬ 
clude discussions of errors such as halo effect, 
overrating, and prejudice, as well as an ade¬ 
quate description of the distribution of abilities 
and of the scale itself. That the results of using 
rating scales without opportunity to train raters 
or to review and follow up the raters’ evalua¬ 
tions is likely to be of limited value is shown 
by one recent study ; 10 a factor analysis study 
of the rating scale traits revealed that the rat¬ 
ings were characterized by a great deal of halo, 
and that almost any one of the traits could be 
used to represent the whole of the ratings. This 
was in spite of the fact that the traits rated 
were apparently quite heterogeneous, including 
such traits as adaptability, courage, sociability, 
and dependability. 


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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION 


131 


In order to avoid such results as were ob¬ 
tained in the study referred to above, one should 
not only make adequate provision for training 
raters, but also one should take considerable 
care in planning the rating scale itself. In gen¬ 
eral, the traits to be rated should be as objective 
and well defined as possible. Probably a graphic 
rating scale, on which certain points are defined 
with descriptive terms, is in general most sat¬ 
isfactory. Each trait should refer to a single 
type of activity. The effort should always be 
made to have each man rated by a number of 
his supervisors or officers, so that the final score 
can be based on the consensus of opinion and 
not on one person’s judgment. 

Work Readiness Tests 

Even with a fairly elaborate procedure for 
entering performance test scores and ratings 
in the service records of enlisted men, there 
are likely to be cases where data needed by a 
classification interviewer are lacking or out of 
date. He may be unable to make an assignment 
without resorting either to records of aptitude 
test scores and the like or to trusting state¬ 
ments made by the interviewee regarding his 
own training and experience. Tests similar to 
the oral trade tests of the U. S. Employment 
Service, but based on Navy jobs, would be par¬ 
ticularly valuable in such situations. 

The Applied Psychology Panel has made a 
beginning in the development of tests of this 
type. One Panel project has developed such a 
test (termed a work readiness test) for dis¬ 
tilling plant operators. 13 This test consists of 
15 items which may be administered orally or 
as a written test. Two forms were prepared 
which are equivalent with respect to difficulty, 
content, and discriminating power. The test has 
satisfactory reliability. It differentiates men 
with watchstanding experience on distilling 
plants from men with nonengineering rates 
and also from men with engineering rates but 
no distilling plant experience. Apparently 
neither chance nor experience other than dis¬ 
tilling plant operation is likely to produce 
spuriously high scores. Use of the test thus 
furnishes a method of evaluating the claims 
of those who profess to be experienced in dis¬ 
tilling plant operation. The test is objective and 


economical of time, and the results can easily 
be interpreted in terms of assignment to train¬ 
ing or to shipboard duty. 

The availability of a battery of work readi¬ 
ness tests covering a variety of billets would 
be of considerable value to a classification in¬ 
terviewer ; such tests could be administered 
in cases where more direct measures of pro¬ 
ficiency are not at hand. The procedures for 
developing work readiness tests are described 
in an Applied Psychology Panel publication. 15 


13 ' 3 ' 2 Extension of Advanced Classi¬ 
fication Procedures 

In order for advanced classification to be of 
maximum effectiveness, it should involve more 
than the making of recommendations, which 
may or may not be followed, only at relatively 
infrequent stages in the career of the enlisted 
man. There should be throughout the Navy 
sufficient appreciation of the aims and methods 
of classification at least for sympathetic coop¬ 
eration with advanced classification. It would 
be still more desirable to have officer personnel 
at all ships and stations who are qualified 
through interest and training to undertake 
classification procedures as an extra duty if 
not as a full-time assignment. In addition, all 
other officers, who do not serve as classification 
officers in a direct capacity, should nevertheless 
know enough about classification to use sensibly 
the data in a service record for assigning or 
advising enlisted men, and to realize the im¬ 
portance of keeping service records complete 
and up to date. 

One of the Applied Psychology Panel projects 
made a survey, in connection with a study on 
the validation of selection procedures, of the 
extent to which classification data were avail¬ 
able to ships’ officers on destroyers in shake- 
down. 8 It was discovered that Division officers 
charged with the responsibility of assigning 
men in most cases were not aware of the ex¬ 
istence of the Q-card, and of those who did 
know of its existence few were aware that it 
contained information which could be used in 
making assignments. As long as this situation 
remains typical, it means that classification 


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132 


ORGANIZATION OF AN ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM 


data are of extremely limited value. Not all 
problems of assignment, training, transfer, and 
the like which occur aboard ship can be handled 
through recommendations made at a shore- 
based classification center. 

The study also revealed that Q-cards were 
frequently not available, that test records on 
Q-cards which were available were frequently 
missing or incomplete, and that Q-cards were 
often found for men not aboard. In other words, 
considerable laxity in connection with classifi¬ 
cation procedures was evident. 

Steps have been taken by the Enlisted Classi¬ 
fication Section which, if followed up effec¬ 
tively, should lead to considerable improvement 
in the attainment of the objectives of advanced 
classification. The provision for training one 
officer and one yeoman from each ship (see 
Section 13.2.3) is particularly important in this 
regard. 

It might be desirable in addition to have 
classification officers attached to Precommis¬ 
sioning Training Centers whose duty is to serve 
as temporary “technical aides” to the executive 
officer of each new ship. Such an officer could 
serve on each new ship from the time the crew 
was processed until the ship reported for shake- 
down. During this time he could work with the 
officer designated as classification officer for 
the ship, assisting in problems of classification 
as they arise and incidentally providing indoc¬ 
trination for the officers and yeomen. This plan 
has the advantage of providing instruction at 
a time when it is especially needed and con¬ 
sequently at a time when motivation to learn 
should be high. 

For long-term effectiveness, the indoctrina¬ 
tion of officers in general can best be achieved 
by the inclusion of definite courses in personnel 
procedures at the U. S. Naval Academy. This 
would eventually ensure some understanding 
of the problems of classification among high 
ranking officers in the Navy, as well as among 
engineering, deck, gunnery, and other types 
of officers throughout the Service. Only when 
the specialized training of classification officers 
is supplemented by general understanding and 
cooperation among other officers can the im¬ 
portant goals of personnel classification be 
achieved. Only then can classification become a 


continuing process through which the service 
record becomes more and more valid as a device 
for making assignments and enlisted men con¬ 
tinue to be given training and billet assignments 
which make them of maximum value to the 
Navy. 

As has already been mentioned, recommen¬ 
dations from classification centers are occa¬ 
sionally ignored, and billets may be assigned 
by the personnel department on the basis of 
the alphabetization of names, for example. It 
is not uncommon for assignments aboard ship 
to be made by assigning men to those battle 
stations which are nearest their bunks. In such 
situations a classification officer can do nothing, 
since billet assignments are actually a function 
of the personnel department. Similarly, classi¬ 
fication officers have no jurisdiction over the 
crew of a ship; once a man has been assigned 
to a ship, the commanding officer has jurisdic¬ 
tion over his future assignments. As a result, 
it sometimes happens that the poorest men tend 
to be assigned to advanced training, since the 
commanding officer is loath to give up a good 
man. One ship may have more than enough 
good first class radiomen while another ship 
has none. When a request for transfer is re¬ 
ceived, the commanding officer may circumvent 
the purpose of the transfer by getting rid of 
the poorest of his first class radiomen. In de¬ 
fense of this situation it is often said that the 
officer in charge of his ship depends upon his 
crew for the safety of his ship and its success 
in combat. While no one would gainsay this 
position, the long-term values to the Navy of 
equitable distribution of men among its fight¬ 
ing ships and of selecting the best qualified 
men for training should not be overlooked. 

Considerations such as these might lead to 
the suggestion that the responsibility for as¬ 
signments within a particular region (such as 
a Naval district or a fleet command) be placed 
in the hands of a well-qualified classification 
officer. He would have authority to see that 
classification recommendations are followed 
and that men are equitably distributed among 
the units of the fleet, and to make sure that all 
directives and policies regarding classification 
are followed. By making use of methods of 
evaluating proficiency, the classification officer 


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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF ADVANCED CLASSIFICATION 


133 


can objectively control the equitable distribu¬ 
tion and proper assignment of the men under 
his jurisdiction. Through such a method, which 
would neither be too centralized nor give too 
much autonomy to separate ships and stations, 
the classification procedures might be made to 
work to the greatest advantage to the Navy as 
a whole. 

13.3.3 Procedures for Coding and Filing 
Personnel Data 

In the days before radio, radar, sonar, loran, 
fire control equipment, and automatic weapons, 
naval warfare was a much simpler matter than 
it is today. The use of Navy ratings at such a 
time was probably a fairly adequate device for 
classifying and selecting personnel. With the 
increased specialization that has come with a 
highly mechanized Navy, however, the value of 
rates for selection is highly questionable. A 
first class gunners mate, for example, may be 
entirely capable of operating and maintaining 
.50-caliber Browning machine guns but be rela¬ 
tively ignorant of larger automatic weapons 
such as a 40 mm or 5"/38 gun; he may nave 
never served on a ship which mounted the 
larger weapons. Similarly an electrician’s mate 
may be quite capable of ringing out and re¬ 
pairing lighting circuits but be ignorant of 
selsyn units and interior communications. 

One possibility is to increase the number of 
ratings and to add designators to ratings which 
indicate fields of specialization. This method 
has been used to a certain extent. New Navy 
rates, such as sonarman and radarman, have 
been added, and the designators (M) and (R) 
have been added to fire controlman (FC) to 
indicate whether the man is qualified for main¬ 
tenance or for operation of fire control equip¬ 
ment. This is at best only a partial solution, 


however, unless the system is extended consid¬ 
erably. For example, in assigning a fire con¬ 
trolman (M) to a particular billet, it might 
be necessary to know his qualifications for 
maintaining Mark 37, Mark 51, and Mark 52 
gun directors, rangefinder optical equipment, 
torpedo directors, fuze setter and sightsetter 
equipment, and other types of computers, stable 
elements, and the like. The problem is just as 
complex for many other rates. A machinist’s 
mate may have specialized in high or low 
pressure steam turbines, reciprocating steam 
engines, diesel or gasoline engines, or turbo¬ 
electric equipment. A radarman may be quali¬ 
fied on only one of a number of different types 
of radar sets. 

In other words, it would seem that what is 
needed is a method of coding Navy occupational 
skills which can be used efficiently in classifica¬ 
tion procedures. A five- or six-digit code would 
probably suffice, in which various digits or 
pairs of digits could be used to represent rate, 
pay grade, field or fields of specialization, and 
degree of proficiency in the field of specializa¬ 
tion. Classification would be facilitated by ap¬ 
propriate use of such codes both at shore-based 
stations and on ships. At shore stations the 
code could be punched into electric accounting 
punched cards, and sorting of the cards repre¬ 
senting the men in a pool could be quickly made. 
This would rapidly make accessible the data 
needed for making billet assignments and would 
require much less individual study of Q-cards. 
For shipboard use, 10 the code would permit the 
use of such a device as the McBee Keysort sys¬ 
tem. 0 The Classification and Selection Section 
of the Bureau of Navy Personnel 23 ’ 24 has de¬ 
veloped a Manual of Navy Enlisted Job Classi¬ 
fications which provides a Navy occupational 
skills code. This code went into effect July 1, 
1946. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 14 

CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF GROUP TESTS 

By Norman Frederiksen a 


Summary 

T his chapter consists of an outline of the 
procedures recommended for constructing 
aptitude tests for the selection of military per¬ 
sonnel. 

I*.* INTRODUCTION 

The procedures which the Applied Psychology 
Panel used and recommends for use in prepar¬ 
ing tests for the classification of military per¬ 
sonnel are described in this chapter. They apply 
particularly to the development of aptitude 
tests of the paper-and-pencil variety which are 
power tests rather than speed tests. The pro¬ 
cedures are described here in detail because 
they are not generally available. They are de¬ 
scribed with refinements which could not always 
be used because of the speed demanded by war¬ 
time pressure. The best tests constructed under 
Applied Psychology Panel direction, however, 
were those in which the recommended proce¬ 
dures were followed most closely; when short¬ 
cuts were used, the tests suffered by comparison. 
In peacetime test construction, thoroughness in 
the application of the methods described is 
strongly recommended. 

It is impossible to construct valid tests merely 
by sitting at a desk and writing test items. Be¬ 
fore any work on test preparation is done, it is 
necessary to find out what the proposed test is 
to be used for—what it is supposed to predict. 
It is necessary to study the to-be-predicted ac¬ 
tivity in order to determine the critical skills 
and abilities required for success. It is further 
necessary to acquire at least a general notion 
of the characteristics of the group to which the 
test is to be given, and to become acquainted 
with the conditions and limitations of the clas¬ 
sification program of which the test is to be¬ 
come a part. 

a This chapter is based on the work of NDRC Project 
N-106 and the procedures followed by recognized test 
experts. 


Only after these things have been done can 
one start writing test items. The items them¬ 
selves must then be tried out and an item 
analysis made. It is necessary to select items 
for the final test in terms of their difficulty and 
validity, to determine time limits, to make cer¬ 
tain that instructions are clear, and to arrange 
the items in proper order. All these things are 
necessary before one can say with confidence, 
“Here is a good test.” 

142 PRELIMINARY DETERMINATION 
OF WHAT THE TEST IS TO 
ACCOMPLISH 

i4.2.i xhe Performance to Be Predicted 

The first task is to decide specifically what 
performance is to be predicted. This perform¬ 
ance may be something as specific as using a 
stereoscopic heightfinder, or something as gen¬ 
eral as the intellectual ability to pass any Serv¬ 
ice school course. 

Determining What Is to Be Predicted 

The most general problem likely to arise is 
whether a classification test battery should be 
aimed at predicting Service school success (the 
immediate goal of trainees) or eventual success 
in carrying out a military job. This problem, 
arose in connection with the preparation of the 
Navy’s Basic Classification Test Battery. The 
decision made then was to attempt primarily 
to predict Service school success, on the grounds 
that it was especially important to prevent 
waste of time and equipment in trying to train 
men who were poorly qualified with respect to 
this first goal. At the time the decision was 
made, the choice may have made some differ¬ 
ence in the types of tests which were developed; 
but with improved, more realistic training in 
Service schools, such that the activities in Serv¬ 
ice schools resemble more closely the duties 


134 


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PRELIMINARY DETERMINATION OF WHAT THE TEST IS TO ACCOMPLISH 


135 


aboard ship, it would make less difference which 
criterion one aimed to predict. 

Determining the Test Content 

After deciding what is to be predicted, it is 
necessary to select the kind of material to in¬ 
clude in the test. The second step is to make a 
thorough job analysis of the performance to 
be predicted. (See Applied Psychology Panel, 
Volume 2, Chapter 14.) In some cases the re¬ 
sults of a job analysis will already be available. 
These analyses should be studied and used, but 
acquiring firsthand information about the job 
should not be neglected. If a test is to be made to 
predict success in a signalman school, for exam¬ 
ple, the test specialist should visit such schools, 
study the curricula, analyze the causes for fail¬ 
ure, and if possible actually take the course him¬ 
self to find out at first hand what the problems 
are like. Only by such firsthand experiences can 
he really get the feel of the situation and the 
background which best equips him to form 
hunches as to the types of items most likely to 
be successful. 

Evaluation of Training. At this point it may 
be mentioned that the test specialist has an 
opportunity and a responsibility to make evalu¬ 
ations which have implications beyond the field 
of classification. He may find that training is 
not realistic and that tests constructed to pre¬ 
dict school success will actually select men poor 
in performance of their military duty. For ex¬ 
ample, one school curriculum led to the selection 
of bookish men, while a quite different type 
was most successful on the job. (See Chapter 
17 of Volume 2, Applied Psychology Panel.) 
Obviously in such a case it would be extremely 
shortsighted to go ahead and prepare a test 
which would predict only school success. Instead 
steps should be taken to make the training more 
realistic, so that both training and selection are 
better oriented toward the ultimate goal of 
maximum quality of performance in combat. 

The Availability of a Criterion 

Before beginning the work of test construc¬ 
tion, plans should be made for validating the 
test. Validation requires that a reliable and 
meaningful criterion of success on the job be 


available. In many cases it will be found that 
a suitable criterion is lacking or that the avail¬ 
able criterion (such as passing or failing a 
Service school course) is itself probably not a 
valid indication of success. 

If a suitable criterion is lacking, it will 
eventually be necessary to develop one. If the 
development of the criterion measure is not 
begun until after the predictive test has been 
completed, the validation of the test will be 
considerably delayed. Serious consideration 
should therefore be given to the possibility of 
beginning work on the development of a cri¬ 
terion measure at the same time that the con¬ 
struction of the test is started. 

14.2.2 Analysis of the Classification 
Situation 

The Testing Situation 

In addition to studying the performance in 
which success is to be predicted, it is also de¬ 
sirable to investigate the situation in which the 
proposed tests are to be used. Factors such as 
time available for test administration and test 
scoring, size of groups to be tested, use of 
interviews or other classification procedures, 
and physical facilities for conducting a testing 
program have a significance with respect to the 
nature of the tests to be developed. 

Considerations such as those suggested above 
should not be allowed to have too much influ¬ 
ence in determining policies with regard to 
test construction. During peacetime develop¬ 
mental work, it should be possible to relegate 
such factors to a secondary role and to shape 
the situation in which the tests are to be used 
to fit whatever tests are found to be useful. On 
the other hand, one should guard against set¬ 
ting up a testing organization which, however 
suitable it may be for peacetime needs, is too 
elaborate and time-consuming to permit classi¬ 
fication of recruits at a rate which might become 
necessary during mobilization for war. 

Characteristics of the Group to Be Tested 

Advance information concerning the charac¬ 
teristics of the group to whom the test is to be 
given will be of value in designing tests and 


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136 


CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF GROUP TESTS 


will help in gauging the proper difficulty of test 
items. Knowing the central tendency and vari¬ 
ability of the group with respect to age, educa¬ 
tion, vocational training, and occupational ex¬ 
perience should be of value in this connection. 
Score distributions and item analyses of tests 
previously taken by the group will be particu¬ 
larly useful if they are available. 


143 PREPARATION OF THE FIRST 
EXPERIMENTAL TESTS 

The first version of a test should be thought 
of as purely experimental; it should be designed 
to give as much information as possible to aid 
in future revisions of the test. This section in¬ 
cludes specific suggestions with regard to 
planning the first experimental version of a 
test for maximum usefulness in obtaining data 
for subsequent revision. 


14.3.1 Writing the Test Items 

On the basis of the preliminary survey of the 
performance to be predicted, the psychologist 
can prepare the items included in the first ex¬ 
perimental test. The first version is in the na¬ 
ture of an experiment, and all reasonable 
hunches should be followed up. This means that 
not one, but several tests or subtests should be 
constructed, with the idea of following up the 
best leads suggested by the preliminary re¬ 
search findings on comparative validity, relia¬ 
bility, and internal consistency. The findings 
reported in the literature by previous investi¬ 
gators should be studied for ideas with respect 
to suitable test items. 

Now for some more specific suggestions with 
respect to the preparation of the first experi¬ 
mental tests: 

1. Make three to five times as many items as 
will be used in one test. A sufficient number of 
items should then prove satisfactory to permit 
the selection of matched items for at least two 
parallel forms of the test. For some kinds of 
items (such as arithmetical computation) 
where comparatively few of the items will fail 
to meet the standards for selection, fewer items 


need to be prepared than for types of tests 
where successful items are more difficult to 
write, such as verbal analogies and mechanical 
comprehension. The number of items that can 
be included in one test is limited, of course, by 
such factors as fatigue and boredom of the 
testees. 

2. Edit the items carefully. A lower mortality 
rate will result. Too often it is found that an 
item which must be rejected because of item 
analysis results contains a defect which could 
have been discovered in advance. The editing 
should include not only careful study by tech¬ 
nical experts (such as the study of mechanical 
comprehension items by engineers) but also 
careful inspection from the point of view of 
rhetoric and ambiguity. 

3. Strive for a fairly wide range of difficulty 
in order that items can be selected which have 
a suitable range of item difficulty. Information 
on the general ability level of the group to be 
tested will help in this connection—especially 
information on tests of similar nature which 
have been administered to that group. Experi¬ 
ence has shown that it is harder to construct 
valid difficult items than valid easy items; 22 
therefore a greater excess of difficult items than 
of easy items should be prepared, in order to 
have available a sufficient number of valid diffi¬ 
cult items. 

4. Choose the type of item—multiple-choice, 
matching, true-false, completion, or other type 
—which appears to be most advantageous in 
the particular situation. In making the choice, 
consider such factors as time and space per 
item, ease and objectivity of scoring, freedom 
from chance success, and ease of giving direc¬ 
tions, as well as the appropriateness of the type 
of item for the kind of subject matter being 
dealt with. 

All things considered, the multiple-choice 
type is in general most satisfactory. Tests com¬ 
posed of multiple-choice items are easy to ad¬ 
minister, they are adaptable to machine scoring 
or are easily scored by hand, and with four or 
more choices are sufficiently free from the fac¬ 
tor of chance. A large number of such items can 
ordinarily be administered in a short time. 
Most important, the multiple-choice item is 
adaptable to a wide variety of purposes, from 


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PREPARATION OF THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL TESTS 


137 


measuring simple recognition to complex think¬ 
ing. However, for certain kinds of subject mat¬ 
ter other types of items may be superior. That 
type of item should be chosen which is best 
adapted to the type of measurement being at¬ 
tempted. 

5. For each item, prepare two or three more 
distractors (wrong answers) than are planned 
for use in the final form of the test. It will then 
become possible to select those distractors which 
function best. 

6. Base the selection of distractors on objec¬ 
tive empirical evidence when feasible. In order 
to do this, the psychologist should prepare a 
free-answer form of the test (i.e., a completion 
or short-answer test in which each testee writes 
his answer to each item). The free-answer test 
should then be administered to a group similar 
to the population eventually to be measured. 
The frequency with which various answers are 
given can be tabulated and the most frequent 
wrong answers selected as potential distractors 
for the multiple-choice form of the test. By use 
of a more elaborate item analysis of the free- 
answer test, it is possible to select items and 
distractors on the basis of their discriminative 
value. It is further possible to estimate the 
difficulty of each item on the basis of the fre¬ 
quency of correct answers. 

This method is obviously not applicable to all 
types of tests; it could not, for example, be 
used to good advantage on a test where the 
choices are represented by pictures. The method 
is applicable when there is the greatest simi¬ 
larity between the operations performed in a 
free-answer and a multiple-choice form of the 
test. Arithmetic or mathematics tests are espe¬ 
cially adapted to this technique of obtaining 
distractors. 21 

7. Try to present the test material as real¬ 
istically as possible; for example, the material 
in arithmetical reasoning items should be con¬ 
sistent with the experience of the testees to as 
great an extent as possible. Use pictures when¬ 
ever they are appropriate. When testing a group 
with a wide range of ability, it is difficult to 
avoid high intercorrelations among tests. By 
avoiding verbal items except where they are 
especially appropriate, the intercorrelations 
may be reduced. 


14.3.2 Planning the Format and 
Directions 

A group test cannot be successful unless the 
directions for taking it can be followed. Many 
testees will have had little previous experience 
in taking examinations and will have a rather 
low level of ability in following either oral or 
written directions. It is important that a man’s 
test score represent his ability with respect to 
what is being measured by the test and not 
ability to follow complicated directions on cod¬ 
ing correct answers or using separate answer 
sheets. The format of the test and the oral and 
written directions should therefore be as sim¬ 
ple as possible, and format and directions should 
be studied during the use of the experimental 
versions with their later improvement in mind. 

Format of the Test 

All details should be carefully studied from 
the point of view of ease of understanding and 
following the test procedures. The choices for 
an item should be arranged in a column instead 
of being strung out along the page, even though 
more space is required. This arrangement 
makes clearer what identifying letter or num¬ 
ber goes with each choice. If the items are 
numbered, the choices should be lettered, so 
that in recording answers there is a minimum 
of confusion and error; (item) U, (choice) C 
is easier to bear in mind while recording on a 
separate answer sheet than U, 3, which might 
easily be recorded as 3, U- 

Use of Separate Answer Sheet 

Probably it will be decided that the test 
should be scorable by means of a test scoring 
machine; if so, the test blanks for the prelim¬ 
inary forms of the test should have answer 
sheets which are good facsimiles of, if not 
actual, machine scorable answer sheets. The 
machine scoring feature does not necessarily 
involve the use of a separate answer sheet; in 
some cases, it is feasible to print the test itself 
on the answer sheet. 21 This would eliminate 
the necessity of coding the choices and making 
answers according to this code, which is un¬ 
doubtedly a source of some error. If the entire 
test can be printed on the answer sheet, this 


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138 


CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF GROUP TESTS 


method definitely should be employed. If sev¬ 
eral pages are required, however, it becomes 
necessary to add scores from different pages, 
which introduces the likelihood of large errors; 
consequently the separate answer sheet would 
be preferable in such a case. 

Writing the Directions 

The writing of clear yet concise directions 
requires considerable care and insight into the 
thinking of the none-too-bright recruit who has 
perhaps never before taken a standardized test. 
The directions should be written in such a way 
that the test procedures can be correctly fol¬ 
lowed by all recruits—the dull as well as the 
bright. Test scores should not reflect differences 
in ability to understand directions. 

Perhaps the best approach in writing test 
directions is to describe, one at a time, the 
specific procedures which must be followed in 
the order in which they would most naturally 
occur. The recruit can be carried through the 
procedures most effectively by requiring him 
to participate actively through answering and 
recording answers to several practice questions. 
Sentences should be short, and vocabulary 
should be at a level which is low enough for 
all but the most illiterate to understand. In 
most cases, and especially for tests which ne¬ 
cessitate rather complicated procedures (such 
as Surface Development), it will be of consid¬ 
erable help to pretest the directions, using a 
sample group which includes many low-ability 
recruits. 

The directions should be very explicit in re¬ 
quiring the testee to answer every question. 
If this is not done, it will be necessary to cor¬ 
rect the scores for differences due to chance 
success. Even then, final scores will depend in 
part upon the men’s willingness or unwilling¬ 
ness to guess. The men are more likely to follow 
a common policy if guessing is encouraged than 
if it is discouraged. The word guess may be 
undesirable, but the same result can be achieved 
by saying, “If you don’t know the answer, mark 
the one you think is most likely to be right.” 

Making the Experimental Tests of 
Maximum Value 

A number of precautions should be observed 
in planning the first experimental tests to make 


the item analysis data of maximum value. In 
the first place, the format of the test and an¬ 
swer sheet should be such that part scores are 
readily obtainable, so that items of different 
types can be studied separately. Items of dif¬ 
ferent types can later be thrown together in an 
omnibus form, for example, if desired; but it 
is important to be able to study separately the 
efficiency of items of various types. Further¬ 
more, it is important to attempt to plan the 
test in such a way that data on the various 
items are equally trustworthy, i.e., affected as 
little as possible by such factors as fatigue, 
monotony, rate of work, or attitude. One way 
to minimize the effects of such factors is to 
publish the experimental tests in two or more 
forms which differ in the order of the items. 
Thus items which are near the end of the test 
in one case will be near the beginning in an¬ 
other. 

Ideally, the time limit should be so liberal 
that at least 90 per cent of the recruits are 
allowed to finish; otherwise the data available 
for the terminal items are likely to be based on 
a select group. Unless time limits can be deter¬ 
mined by pretest experiments, it may be desira¬ 
ble to leave the time limit undecided until the 
test is actually given. Then the test can be 
terminated when the desired proportion has 
finished. The number still working at any mo¬ 
ment can be determined by requiring the men 
to indicate in some way, such as by putting the 
test paper on the floor, when they have finished. 

144 ADMINISTRATION AND ANALYSIS 

OF THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL TESTS 

Administration of the Test 

After the test booklets and answer sheets for 
the experimental test have been prepared, the 
test is ready for its trial administration. The 
sample to which it is given should resemble as 
much as possible the population with which 
the test is ultimately to be used; otherwise esti¬ 
mates of item difficulty (in particular) may be 
misleading. 18 In order that the various sta¬ 
tistics used to evaluate test items may have 
satisfactory reliability, the sample should be 
made up of a minimum of 500 men. If different 


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ADMINISTRATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL TESTS 


139 


forms of the experimental test (containing the 
items in different order) are used, they should 
be given to subgroups of equal size selected at 
random from the sample. The tests should be 
well proctored, and the proctors should be in¬ 
structed to notice particularly behavior of the 
testees which indicates how successful the test 
directions have been. Questions by the recruits 
would be such an indication of the adequacy of 
the directions. A record should be kept of any 
such evidence which is forthcoming. The test 
should not be terminated, if possible, until at 
least 90 per cent of the men have completed the 
test. 


Item Analysis of the Test 

The test is now ready for tabulation of re¬ 
sponses and item analysis. 19 The analysis of the 
test should furnish for each item some measure 
of its difficulty and some measure of the validity 
of the item (i.e., its relation to some criterion, 
usually the score on the test or subtest of which 
the item is a part). In addition, the item analy¬ 
sis should show how many individuals chose 
each alternative answer to each item and the 
average score (on the criterion) of the group 
choosing each alternative. Finally, the relia¬ 
bility of the test should be determined by corre¬ 
lating random (usually odd-even) halves of the 
test and correcting for length by means of the 
Spearman-Brown prophecy formula. Once 
these computations have been completed, the 
first revision of the test can be made. 

The Analysis Procedure 

The amount of item analysis information 
available about each item and about each alter¬ 
native within an item determines the adequacy 
of the revisions that can be made. A very de¬ 
tailed item analysis procedure 19 was, there¬ 
fore, followed in constructing the Navy tests 
described in Chapters 2 and 3. b 

Figure 1 shows a sample item analysis sheet. 
It gives the information which was regularly 
used in making final choice of which items to 


b Reference 19, Characteristics and Uses of Item- 
Analysis Data, has been declassified and will be pub¬ 
lished by the Stanford University Press in the series of 
Applied Psychology Monographs. 


include and which to reject. The types of infor¬ 
mation made available and their interpreta¬ 
tions are: 

Item. The item itself is typed on the sheet. 
For ease in sorting, its number is also printed 
in the box at the upper left. 

Distribution of Responses. The number of 
men selecting each alternative and the number 
omitting the item entirely are shown in the 
column headed “N.” Three men omitted item 
96. Two hundred and eighty-eight answered it 
correctly by choosing the first alternative. The 
heavy lines above and below row 1 indicate that 
that was the correct answer. The other 209 
men failed the item. Rows 2, 3, and 4 supply 
information on how many chose each wrong 
alternative. 

Number of Cases. The Base N is given at the 
top. The number who actually attempted an 
item (N t ) appears in the bottom row of the 
table. Anyone who has answered a particular 
item, and anyone who has answered a subse¬ 
quent item, is considered to have tried that 
item. The sample item shown in Figure 1 was 
placed early enough in the test so that N t 
equaled Base N. In items placed near the end 
of a test, N t is frequently less than Base N. 
N t rather than Base N is used in computing the 
statistics described in the following para¬ 
graphs. 

Item Difficulty. Two measures of item diffi¬ 
culty are used. The simpler is symbolized by p. 
It consists of the percentage of N t which an¬ 
swered the item correctly. In this case p = .58. 
The second difficulty measure is symbolized by 
the Greek letter delta (A). A is expressed in 
terms of transformed criterion scores. The 
essential features of these transformed scores 
are that they correlate 1.00 with the original 
scores, that the mean of the total sample on the 
transformed scores is uniformly 13.00, and 
that the standard deviation of the total sample 
is uniformly 4.0. A is defined as that trans¬ 
formed criterion score above which the percent¬ 
age of cases equals p. The more difficult the 
item, the higher the value of A. In this sample 
A = 12.2 and p = .58. For an item with a 
A value of 13.0, p would equal .50. 

Correlation with Criterion Score. The bi¬ 
serial correlation between the item and the 
criterion is computed. In this case it equaled .60. 


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140 


CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF GROUP TESTS 


ITEM 

ANALYSIS 

Card Number 
48 



TEST 
FORM 
BASE N 


MECHKN 

I 

50 0 


COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD 
Research and Statistical Laboratory 
Princeton, New Jersey 

Date Tabulated 6 4 4 Operator Number 


Response Code 

n 

2x 

Mean 

2x 2 

0 

3 

1 6 


8 8 

1 

2 8 8 

4 2 15 

/</. 435- 

6 5 6 8 3 

2 

7 1 

8 4 8 

//? 

10 8 14 

3 

4 5 

4 5 8 

10 2- 

4 9 9 0 

4- 

9 3 

9 6 5 

/Of 

1 09 95 




































































96. In a gasoline engine^ the gas mixture should explode in - 
(b) the intake manifold. (c) the exhaust manifold, 
our©tor• 


\ ti / ono uyiiauor 

the car- 


(d) 


9 







Computed by 











Checked by 

TOTAL TRIED (t) 

5 0 0 

6 5 0 2 


9 2 5 7 0 



NOTES:— 

1. x', based on p, is the distance from the mean along the baseline of the normal curve, 
in terms of unit standard deviation. If p is less than .5, x' is positive; if p is 
more than .5, x' is negative. 

2. Compute means only for responses made by ten or more candidates. 

3. Compute M+ and Mt to three decimal places; means of all other responses, to one. 

4. Record r to two places;/^ to one. 2x a 2x 2 

5. Carry all other computations to three decimal places; i.e.,_,_M z ,crt,p* 

n n 


Figure 1 . Sample item analysis sheet. 


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ADMINISTRATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL TESTS 


141 


The criterion employed is the score on the sub¬ 
test of which the item is a part; if the test is not 
divided into subtests, then the score on the total 
test is employed. 

Information on Alternatives tvithin Each 
Item. The mean transformed score of the men 
selecting each alternative is given in the col¬ 
umn headed “mean.” The mean score of the 288 
men who selected the correct alternative was 
14.635, substantially higher than the mean of 
the entire group (13.0). The mean transformed 
scores of the men who chose the wrong alterna¬ 
tives were all well below 13.0. Alternatives c 
and d (mean scores 10.2 and 10.4) appealed to 
a poorer group than alternative b (mean score 
11.9). 

Alternative Criteria for Item Analysis 

If it is possible to administer the trial test 
to a group which satisfies the criteria for a 
representative sample and at the same time 
can be used as a validation group, not only can 
the test be validated more quickly, but also a 
supplementary item analysis using the external 
criterion can be employed; this permits the 
selection of items on a dual criterion: internal 
consistency and correlation with the external 
criterion (see Chapter 15). 

Still another type of analysis would be of 
value in situations where, as in developing a 
battery of tests, it is desirable to reduce the in¬ 
tercorrelations of the tests as much as possible. 
This cross item analysis consists of correlating 
the items of each test with scores on all the 
other tests in the battery, thus permitting the 
selection of items on the basis of high correla¬ 
tions with their own test and low correlations 
with other tests. Such a procedure would be 
particularly useful for recruit tests, where the 
range of talent is great, and for tests where 
low correlations are desirable but difficult to 
obtain, as in tests of verbal facility and arith¬ 
metical ability. 

Selection of Items for 
Alternative Forms of a Test 

It is always desirable to have two or more 
alternative forms of any test which is to be 
used widely and repeatedly. The construction 
of alternative test forms always poses a num¬ 


ber of statistical problems. The distributions of 
scores on the two forms should be similar. The 
difficulties of the items should be similar. Item- 
test correlations, reliabilities, and other statis¬ 
tical characteristics should be matched for the 
two forms of the test. The satisfaction of these 
requirements requires careful planning and 
considerable work. 

The procedures to follow in developing 
equivalent forms of a test are in general those 
described in this chapter. References 17 and 18 
describe in detail the application of these pro¬ 
cedures to the special problems of developing 
equivalent test forms. 

Uses of Item Analysis Data 

The principle uses of item analysis data may 
be briefly summarized as follows: 19 

1. Item analysis supplies detailed, objective, 
quantitative information for each item. This in¬ 
formation cannot be obtained by “expert judg¬ 
ment” nor by any manipulation of the relia¬ 
bility coefficient. 

2. The objective, quantitative information 
from item analysis is well suited to help settle 
arguments or objections concerning specific 
items; and it provides a convenient, practical 
basis for selecting items for subsequent forms 
of a test. 

3. Item analysis data provide information 
which is useful in revising and improving test 
items. 

4. The distribution of item difficulty can be 
improved with respect to symmetry, continuity, 
and average level, on the basis of the evidence 
provided by item analysis concerning the diffi¬ 
culty of each item. 

5. The reliability of the test may frequently 
be improved by the judicious selection of items 
on the basis of item analysis data. 

6. The independence of the test from other 
tests in the battery may be improved by the 
application of a cross-item analysis technique. 

7. The external validity of the test can fre¬ 
quently be improved, if the item analysis in¬ 
cludes the correlation between each item and 
a valid external criterion. 

8. Item analysis data stimulate hypotheses 
and insights useful in construction of tests and 
interpretation of test results. 


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142 


CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF GROUP TESTS 


1^.5 REVISING THE TEST 

The revision of the test is a matter of select¬ 
ing items on the basis of the item analysis 
statistics and modifying the format and direc¬ 
tions. 


14,51 Selecting Test Items 

Determining the Number of Items Needed 

On the basis of the reliability coefficient which 
was obtained for the trial test, it is possible to 
determine about how many items should be in¬ 
cluded in the test. Ordinarily a reliability of 
about .90 is desirable; the number of items 
necessary to secure this reliability can easily 
be estimated by means of the Spearman-Brown 
formula. Various other considerations may of 
course lead one to revise that number in one 
direction or another. It might, for example, be 
desirable to decrease the number of items some¬ 
what in order to avoid excessive time for test 
administration or to avoid using more than one 
side of an answer sheet. It should be remem¬ 
bered that the estimate of the reliability of the 
test will probably be an underestimate, since 
the selection of test items should ordinarily re¬ 
sult in a test which is improved with respect to 
internal consistency and reliability. 

Criteria for Item Selection 

Items are then selected on the basis of a 
multiple criterion which includes the difficulty 
of the items and their relationship to the total- 
test score. The most desirable items are those 
which have the highest correlations with the 
total-test score and whose difficulty values are 
scattered near a level halfway between a 
chance level and the level where all testees 
answer the item correctly 23 (e.g., for five-choice 
items, those which are passed by about 60 per 
cent of the group). The most desirable scatter 
about this level of difficulty is not entirely clear 
as yet; but from practical considerations it 
would seem desirable to include a few relatively 
easy items as “icebreakers’’ at the beginning 
of the test and to avoid an excessive number of 
items which are so difficult as to have an ad¬ 
verse effect upon the attitude of the testees. For 
a five-choice test, the items should probably 


range in difficulty from those answered cor¬ 
rectly by about 85 per cent to those answered 
correctly by about 35 per cent, with the majority 
of the items at about the 60 per cent level. 

Assuming a fairly narrow distribution of 
item difficulties, the optimal values for item- 
total test correlation is a question not fully an¬ 
swered as yet. Presumably no serious errors 
will be made if one selects the items with the 
highest correlation with the total test, pro¬ 
vided a sufficient number of items are avail¬ 
able whose biserial correlations are above, say, 
.25. If more than enough items are available 
which are fairly homogeneous, as indicated by 
uniformly high biserial correlations, it is pos¬ 
sible to select on a judgmental basis, choosing 
those items which best represent the hunch 
being tested. 

The lower the item-total test correlations 
tend to be, the less value they have for item 
selection. If they are all extremely low, they 
indicate merely that the items are heterogene¬ 
ous. In such a case items can be selected on the 
basis of subjective judgment as to similarity. 
A better technique would be to subject the 
items to a factor analysis and select items on 
the basis of their loading with a particular fac¬ 
tor. The factor analysis might be based on a 
subjective classification of the items into 
groups which appear to be alike; the scores on 
the groups, treated like separate test scores, 
could then be correlated and factor-analyzed. 

Selection of Distractors 

It was also recommended previously that 
the items of the trial form should contain more 
distractors than are needed for the final form 
of the test, in order that the best distractors 
can be chosen. The recommended item analysis 
procedure would supply the necessary infor¬ 
mation, viz., (1) the number of people who 
choose each distractor and (2) the mean score 
on the test for each group. The most efficient 
distractor is one which attracts a fairly large 
group of low-ability men; therefore those dis¬ 
tractors should be eliminated which relatively 
few choose, and those which are chosen by 
high-ability men more frequently than by low- 
ability men. The relative importance of these 
two factors is difficult to evaluate in some 
instances; for example, it might be difficult to 


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REVISING THE TEST 


143 


decide whether 

to eliminate 

choice a or b in 

the following example: 



Number 

Mean score of 


choosing 

those choosing 

Alternative 

each alternative each alternative 

a 

37 

14.1 

b 

14 

13.0 

c 

31 

10.6 

d 

24 

10.4 

e 

62 

12.3 

Correct 
answer: / 

116 

17.3 


Alternative a is chosen by a considerably larger 
group than b, but those who choose a make 
scores which are on the average considerably 
higher than the scores of those who choose b. 
(The means are in terms of standard scores 
based on a distribution with a mean of 13 and 
a standard deviation of 4.) No rule can be 
presented to govern a situation of this sort; 
further research, dealing with different types 
of test material, is needed. 

Revising Items 

In cases where the experimental test fails to 
yield a sufficiently large supply of items or 
when additional forms of the test must be pre¬ 
pared, the rejected items should not be over¬ 
looked as a source of supply. 19 Since a con¬ 
siderable amount of statistical information 
concerning the item is available, the chances of 
finally achieving a satisfactory item through 
revision are often superior to the likelihood of 
writing a successful new item. 

The data may show, for example, that some 
distractors are successful—they draw a goodly 
number of men whose scores are on the aver¬ 
age well below the average for those who got 
the item right. Such distractors should be re¬ 
tained. The failure of the item may be due to a 
distractor which draws a high-ability group; 
if so, it may be sufficient to rewrite this dis¬ 
tractor. In other cases it may be necessary to 
rewrite distractors to make them somewhat 
more attractive, so that they will become func¬ 
tional parts of the item. It is also possible, of 
course, to revise the part of the item preceding 
the choices; this would mean that the statistical 
information would be invalidated. After revi¬ 
sion, the items are ready for a second trial 


through their incorporation in another experi¬ 
mental form of the test. 

The Use of External Criteria in 
Item Selection 

The above description of the procedures for 
selecting test items will perhaps be adequate 
for the situation in which the test is analyzed 
using only total-test score as the criterion. 
With an external criterion, a somewhat more 
elaborate procedure of item selection must be 
used. 15 This method is described in Chapter 15. 
Use of an external criterion is most useful 
when there is only one specific criterion to be 
predicted; in cases where success in any school 
or any of a limited number of schools is to be 
predicted, the method would be less practicable. 

Where the items of a test have been corre¬ 
lated with other aptitude tests as well as with 
the test of which the item is a part, it is pos¬ 
sible to minimize the intercorrelations among 
the tests of a particular battery, by selecting 
items which have high correlations with their 
own test and low correlations with the other 
tests. 

14.5.2 R ev j s j n g Hi e Directions and Format 
Revising Directions 

If one has been careful to observe the per¬ 
formance of the recruits with respect to their 
understanding of the test directions, the modi¬ 
fications which are required should be appar¬ 
ent. In scoring the tests it may be noticed where 
common errors are made, such as recording 
answers in the wrong column of the answer 
sheet or confusing the spaces for practice ques¬ 
tions with spaces for the test proper. If evi¬ 
dence of such errors is found, appropriate 
changes in format or directions should of 
course be made. The revisions might take the 
form of modification of written directions, 
boxing-in the practice questions and answer 
spaces, or changing the method of coding an¬ 
swers. 

Determining Time Limit 

It may be possible at this point to determine 
precisely the time limit for the test, on the 
basis of observations of rate of work on the 


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144 


CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF GROUP TESTS 


experimental test. More likely, however, it will 
be necessary to establish the time limit on the 
basis of further experimental administrations 
of the revised test to representative samples of 
the population. In the case of a power test, the 
time limit should be such that additional time 
would not affect the test scores of students to 
any great extent. 

Arrangement of Items 

It was recommended above that the number 
of items in the trial test should exceed the num¬ 
ber required for one test by a considerable 
amount, in order that parallel forms of the 
test could be prepared with a minimum of 
effort. The two forms of the test should contain 
items which are matched with respect to con¬ 
tent, difficulty, and correlation with total score, 
and should resemble each other as closely as 
possible with respect to means of item difficulty 
values. If sufficient items which satisfy the 
above criteria are not available, of course only 
one form of the test can be obtained, and more 
work will be required in order to try out addi¬ 
tional items. 

The items which have been selected for each 
form should be arranged in order of difficulty 
as determined by the item analysis. This ar¬ 
rangement will permit a somewhat shorter time 
allowance than would otherwise be necessary, 
since there is ordinarily a sufficiently high cor¬ 
relation between level of ability and rate of 
work so that the men who have no opportunity 
to attempt the last items would be unable to 
answer them correctly anyhow. Having the 
items in order of difficulty has the advantages 
of permitting the men to build up confidence 
at the beginning and enabling them to attempt 
the majority of items that they have the ability 
to answer. With items in a different order, the 
men will waste time trying to answer items 
which are too difficult for them while leaving 
easy items unattempted. 

Preparing a Test Manual 

The revision of the test is not ready for gen¬ 
eral use until a manual of directions for ad¬ 
ministering it has been prepared. This manual 
should be a very explicit step-by-step descrip¬ 
tion of the preparations and procedures in¬ 


volved in giving the test. The importance of 
uniform procedures has been shown in various 
studies 8 - 13 > 22 which reveal differences in test 
results from station to station, differences 
apparently due to variations in procedure. The 
manual should include such topics as suitable 
conditions for test administration, specific 
duties of proctors, distributing test booklets, 
methods of keeping an adequate check on the 
number of booklets, and seating arrangements, 
as well as a specific account of the steps to fol¬ 
low in administering the test itself. All words 
that are intended to be read aloud by the ex¬ 
aminer should be printed in boldface type or 
otherwise set apart typographically in order 
that they can be found readily at the proper 
moment in giving the test. The test manual 
should also contain detailed and specific direc¬ 
tions for scoring and for converting raw scores 
to whatever units are to be used in reporting 
test results. 


146 VALIDATING THE TEST 

If the test was not validated at the time of its 
first experimental administration, it is now 
ready for validation against the criterion which 
it was designed to predict. The results of the 
validation study determine which of the vari¬ 
ous experimental tests that have been tried out 
will be adopted and put into general use. They 
also may suggest new hunches with respect to 
types of tests which may be prepared and tried 
out. 

This experimental administration also fur¬ 
nishes opportunity for a statistical evaluation of 
the test in its revised form. The reliability of 
the test may be checked, the items and their 
distractors may be re-evaluated, and the time 
limits and test directions may be re-examined. 
A new item analysis would be particularly im¬ 
portant for evaluating items from which extra 
distractors have been eliminated, since there 
is always the possibility that the distractors 
which remain may not function in exactly the 
same way when a change has been made in 
their context. After any further revisions have 
been made, the test is ready to put into gen¬ 
eral use. 


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ESTABLISHING NORMS 


145 


14 7 ESTABLISHING NORMS 

14,71 Adequacy of the Sample 

In establishing norms for a test, the most 
important consideration, so far as early plan¬ 
ning is concerned, is the adequacy of the 
sample. The sample should be large, in order to 
avoid sampling fluctuations. It is difficult to 
state a minimum number, because this would 
depend to some extent on the number available; 
but upwards of 2,000 cases would be satisfac¬ 
tory in most instances. 

More important than size is the representa¬ 
tiveness of the sample. Perhaps the best pro¬ 
cedure would be to take all cases to which the 
test would routinely be administered during a 
particular interval of time (say one month) 
during which no selective factors are known to 
be operating. 7 * 11 

14,7,2 How to Report Scores 

The next problem to be considered is the 
type of measure which should be used in re¬ 
porting scores. A desirable measure should 
possess the following characteristics. 

1. It should be easy for the layman to in¬ 
terpret. 

2. It should have a standard interpretation, 
regardless of what particular test is involved. 

3. It should not be based on units which are 
obviously unequal (i.e., a difference of five 
points near the end of the distribution should 
mean the same as a difference of five points near 
the middle of the distribution). 

4. It should not be unduly influenced by 
minor irregularities in the shape of the distri¬ 
bution and should be relatively stable over a 
period of time. 

5. It should involve the use of not more than 
two digits, for economical use of space on the 
punch card. 

6. It should lend itself to use with available 
statistical procedures. 

Raw scores obviously are unsatisfactory for 
reporting test scores, since they have no stand¬ 
ard interpretation and cannot be directly com¬ 
pared from test to test. 

Percentile rank is sometimes used to indi¬ 
cate the relative position of particular scores 


in the distribution. Percentile rank has the 
advantage of easy interpretation by the lay¬ 
man, but its disadvantages are too numerous 
to justify its use: it has unequal units, it is 
influenced by minor irregularities in the shape 
of the distribution, and it does not possess 
arithmetical characteristics which permit its 
use in statistical procedures. 

Some form of standard score most nearly 
meets the specifications outlined above. Its 
most important disadvantage is its unfamiliar¬ 
ity to the layman, making interpretation diffi¬ 
cult. There is nothing intrinsically difficult, 
however, in the concept of standard score, and 
most officers, with a slight amount of indoctri¬ 
nation, can readily learn to use these scores. 
Standard scores satisfy the requirement of 
equal units well enough for all practical pur¬ 
poses, provided the score distributions do not 
depart too markedly from the form of the 
normal curve, and they do lend themselves to 
statistical manipulation. By using standard 
score units based on a mean of 50 and a stand¬ 
ard deviation of 10, all standard scores can be 
expressed in two-digit numbers. The Navy 
standard scores which are now in use are of 
exactly this type. Army standard scores, which 
have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation 
of 20, require three-digit numbers for reporting 
half the scores but possess all the other ad¬ 
vantages listed. The experience of World War 
II demonstrated that standard scores can be 
used by nontechnical officers. 

Preparation of Conversion Tables 

Conversion tables should be prepared, after 
the test has been scored, for the purpose of 
affording a convenient method of transmitting 
raw scores to standard scores. The conversion 
table should consist of a listing of all obtainable 
raw scores, each of which is paired with its 
corresponding standard score. The conversion 
table should be included with the manual of 
directions for administering and scoring the 
test. 

A Supplementary Method of 
Reporting Scores 

For the benefit of officers who are untrained 
in statistical procedures yet who will need to 


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146 


CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION OF GROUP TESTS 


make use of test scores to assist in classification 
problems, it may be desirable to furnish a 
supplementary method of reporting scores 
which is simpler and coarser than the standard 
scores. The method might consist of reducing 
the scale to about five categories which are de¬ 
fined in terms of percentage of the population 
at various regions along the continuum. The 
Enlisted Classification Section of the Bureau 
of Naval Personnel has included in its recom¬ 
mendations for a postwar classification pro¬ 
gram the suggestion that such a scale consist of 
five categories, as follows. 

1— top 7 per cent 

2— next 24 per cent 

3— middle 38 per cent 

4— next 24 per cent 

5— bottom 7 per cent 

Such a scheme used in conjunction with stand¬ 
ard scores should come very near to satisfying 
the criteria listed above. It is important that 
standard scores be included in each man’s rec¬ 
ord, however, because of their potential value 
for research studies. A five-point scale would 
be very inadequate for correlational studies, 
even if all categories were represented in a par¬ 
ticular sample; and it is very likely that, because 
of selection, only two or three of the categories 
would be represented in a particular group. 


148 CONTINUATION OF TEST 

DEVELOPMENT 

The work of test development cannot be con¬ 
sidered completed at this point, except in a very 
restricted sense. A test constructed according 
to the procedures outlined in this chapter will 
be a good test at the time of construction; but 
there is no guarantee that it will continue to be 
a good test as time passes. Service require¬ 
ments may change as new equipment and tac¬ 
tics are developed, and the content of training 
programs may be modified accordingly. As a 
war progresses, the quality of the available 
manpower may also change. For these and vari¬ 
ous other reasons, a continuing program of re¬ 
search is necessary. 

Tests should be re-evaluated periodically, 
particularly from the point of view of validity. 
Norms should be checked occasionally in order 
to be aware of any shifts which may occur in 
the character of the population being tested. 
The search for improved testing methods and 
more valid types of test items should be a con¬ 
tinuing process. Only through such a continu¬ 
ing program of research can the tests be kept 
up to their maximum value in classification of 
military personnel where the importance of 
tests in maintaining efficiency is recognized. 


RESTRICTED 



Chapter 15 

CONTRIBUTIONS TO TEST THEORY AND TEST ADMINISTRATION 


By Dael Wolfle a 


Summary 

A n investigation of the accuracy with which 
L aptitude tests were being scored in 1942 
in the Navy revealed frequent and large errors. 
Methods of controlling and checking scoring 
procedures were devised. Subsequent investiga¬ 
tions showed that errors were greatly reduced 
in frequency and in size. 

Several innovations in test construction prac¬ 
tice were tried out. They included: 

1. A simple method of measuring the pre¬ 
mium which a test places on speed. 

2. A method of estimating the validity of a 
test for a school population without waiting for 
training and performance measures to accu¬ 
mulate after giving the test to the population. 
Instead, the test is given to a graduating class 
and their test scores are correlated with final 
grades. 

3. A method for increasing the validity of a 
test by selecting items in terms of their corre¬ 
lation with an external criterion such as suc¬ 
cess at the school, instead of correlation with 
the total-test score. 


151 INTRODUCTION 

At the start of the war the routine pro¬ 
cedures used in scoring tests administered in a 
number of Navy installations were seriously at 
fault and resulted in frequent and large errors 
in the test scores reported. Improvements in the 
mechanics of test scoring are described in Sec¬ 
tion 15.2. 

The need for speed in constructing the tests 
of the U. S. Navy Basic Classification Test Bat¬ 
tery (Chapter 2) and the tests for selection of 
officers (Chapter 3) left little time for funda¬ 
mental research or development in test con¬ 
struction or the theory of mental measurement. 

a This chapter is based upon the work of Project 
N-106. 


It was, however, possible to try out, on a fairly 
large scale, some ideas which had not been 
thoroughly tested before the war. Sections 15.3 
to 15.5 describe the applications of these ideas. 


152 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ADMIN¬ 
ISTRATION AND SCORING OF 
NAVY TESTS 

Before beginning to develop tests for the 
Navy Basic Battery or the Officer Qualification 
Test, detailed analyses were made of the tests 
in use by the Navy in 1942. This preliminary 
work included a study of the accuracy with 
which test papers were being scored at the four 
naval training stations located at Great Lakes, 
Illinois; San Diego, California; Newport, 
Rhode Island; and Norfolk, Virginia. 1 

Very large errors were found in the scoring 
of some papers. In the GCT, scoring errors ran 
as high as 33 points, almost one-third of the 
total score. For the Code Test of 78 items, 
errors went up to 40 points, or over half the 
total score. For the MAT with a total score of 
324, 1 paper was in error by 131 points and 8 
were in error by more than 50 points. On the 
Arithmetic, English, and Spelling tests, each 
with 100 points perfect score, scoring errors of 
as much as 40 points were found. Such large 
errors, even though infrequent, are serious 
when individual assignments are made on the 
basis of test score. 

The most accurately scored examination at 
the most accurate station showed an average 
error of .06 points on a test containing 29 
items. Of the 220 papers checked, 207 were 
correctly scored. 

The most inaccurately scored examination at 
the most inaccurate station showed an average 
error of 11.41 points on a test on which the 
perfect score was 342. Of the 204 papers 
checked, only 6 were correctly scored. 

The best of these records was three times as 


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147 



148 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO TEST THEORY AND TEST ADMINISTRATION 


bad as the functioning accuracy level of the 
College Entrance Examination Board or the 
Educational Records Bureau (two professional 
testing organizations). The worst record 
showed over 50 times as large an average error 


In order to reduce the number of scoring 
errors, instructions for a standardized scoring 
procedure were written. This procedure is out¬ 
lined schematically in Figure 1. 

The packet slip shown in Figure 2 was de- 



Scans papers; makes up packets. 


Scores 10% of papers, recording score on reverse side. 


Score all papers, recording score in answer box. 


Compares the two scores, adjusts discrepancies; returns 
packets with excessive errors for rescoring. 


(This ends procedure for one-sided answer sheets which 

DO NOT REQUIRE COMPUTATION.) 


Computes total score, recording it on side opposite box for 
total score. 


Transcribes scores to side with box for total score. 


Computes total score, using data on side with box for total 
score; records score on the same side. 


Compares total scores, adjusts discrepancies. 


Figure 1. Suggested scoring procedure for naval training stations. 


as the maximum ever allowed by these testing 
organizations. 

The fact that Army tests were being scored 
with much greater accuracy than Navy tests 
indicated that the fault was not a necessary 
consequence of using enlisted personnel as test 
scorers. 


vised as a record of the progress of each packet 
of answer sheets through the scoring routine 
and as a means of fixing responsibility for such 
errors as occurred. 

Occasional checks made later showed that the 
adoption of these procedures by the Navy led 
to a great decrease in the seriousness of scoring 


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MEASURING THE PREMIUM PLACED ON SPEED IN A TEST 


149 


errors. Errors continued to be made with some¬ 
what greater frequency than would be tolerated 
by a professional testing organization, but they 
were fewer in number and smaller in size than 
those found prior to the introduction of the 
standard scoring procedures. 


At the same time, ease of test administration 
and scheduling requires fixed time limits. If 
the assigned time limits prove to be too short, 
what was originally intended to be a power test 
becomes a speed test. It is desirable, therefore, 
to have available a method of measuring the 


Number of papers . Packet number . 

Packet to be: Name of test: 

Hand-scored . M.A.T. . 

Machine scored. G.C.T. . 

Code . 

A. , E., and S. . 

Errors Comments 

Scanned and counted by . 

Sample of . papers 

hand-scored by ... 

Page 1 scored by . 

Page 2 scored by . 

Page 1 adjusted by ... 

Page 2 adjusted by ... 

First computation of 

total score by ... 

Transcribed by . 

Second computation of 

total score by .. 

Total score adjusted by . 

APPROVED: . 

Selection Officer 

Figure 2. Packet slip. 

15 3 MEASURING THE PREMIUM 
PLACED ON SPEED IN A TEST 

Tests which grant a high premium for speed 
or impose a heavy penalty for slowness are 
commonly called speed tests. In tests with ex¬ 
tremely short time limits, speed is likely to play 
a major role in determining test scores; in tests 
with long time limits, speed is likely to have 
little or no effect upon test scores. For many 
testing purposes, it is generally considered de¬ 
sirable to emphasize power rather than speed. 


premium which any test, due to its time limits, 
places on speed of work. 

The basic assumption in the development of 
this measure 4 was that differences in the speed 
requirements of tests may be measured by dif¬ 
ferences in the proportion of individuals who 
fail to attempt the final item of each test . The 
proportion of individuals failing to attempt the 
final item may be symbolized by S. 

N f 

s=1.00-jf 

i 


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150 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO TEST THEORY AND TEST ADMINISTRATION 


where N f = number of persons attempting to 
answer the final item, and N i = number of per¬ 
sons attempting to answer the initial item. 
N f /N i = the proportion of individuals who 
attempted the final item; subtracting from 1.00 
gives the proportion who did not attempt the 
final item. 

S may be thought of either as a measure of 
the premium for speed or the penalty for slotv- 


Table 1. Premium for speed, as shown by the value of 
S* (national sample, iV=500). 


Group of items (test or subtest) 

N t 

5* 

(Premium 

for 

Nf speed) 

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION TEST: 



Sentence completion 

500 

208 

.58 

Opposites 

500 

364 

.27 

Analogies 

500 

443 

.11 

READING 

500 

310 

.38 

ARITHMETICAL REASONING 

500 

220 

.56 

MECHANICAL APTITUDE TEST: 




Block counting 

499 

106 

.79 

Mechanical comprehension 

500 

338 

.32 

Surface development 

489 

95 

.81 

MECHANICAL KNOWLEDGE TEST: 



Elect.-pictorial items (Nos. 1-25) 

500 

499 

.00 

Mech.-pictorial items (Nos. 26-55) 

500 

421 

.16 

Elect.-verbal items (Nos. 56-90) 

500 

379 

.24 

Mech.-verbal items (Nos. 91-135) 

500 

296 

.41 


*5 is the proportion of individuals who failed to attempt the final item in a 
test or subtest. Its value is determined from the formula 5 = 1.00 —Nf/Ni 
in which Nf is the number who attempted the final item and Ni the 
number who attempted the initial item on the test. The higher 5 is, the 
more the test score was influenced by speed. 

ness. S may range in value from .00 to 1.00— 
the value .00 indicating the absence of premium 
for speed, and 1.00 indicating a heavy premium 
for speed. For example, if time is unlimited, so 
that everyone completes the test, N f = AU S 
then equals zero (S — 1.00 — 1.00). If the 
time limit on another test is short, so that only 
half the men attempt the final item, N f is only 
half as large as N if and S equals .50. The higher 
the value of S, the greater premium there is on 
speed. 

S is based on only two items in a test, the 
first and the last. A more refined, and probably 


more valid, measure would take into account 
the number of persons attempting to answer 
each individual item. Comparisons between the 
values of S for each test and subtest in the 
U. S. Navy Basic Classification Test Battery 
and the number of people attempting each item 
on each subtest indicate that S is a satisfactory 
measure. 

Table 1 gives the value of S for each test and 
subtest in the Basic Battery. The use of £ 
clearly shows differences among these tests, all 
of which were originally intended primarily as 
power tests. 

Deciding whether the value of S is too high, 
too low, or appropriate for a given test depends, 
first of all, on whether the test was intended to 
be a speed test or a power test. For power tests, 
S should be rather low. There is no very good 
basis for stating any exact limits. Perhaps the 
range from .10 to .35 can be suggested as de¬ 
sirable for power tests. Judged by this stand¬ 
ard, half the tests, or subtests, listed in Table 
1 are found to have time limits which are too 
short. 

If the items toward the end of a test are quite 
difficult, it makes little difference in test score 
whether the slower, and usually poorer, indi¬ 
viduals attempt them or not. They miss them 
even when they have time to answer them. The 
test can therefore be allotted a shorter time, if 
the final items are very difficult, than would be 
desirable in a test where all items are of more 
nearly equal difficulty. 

If a test is to be administered by different 
individuals under different conditions, it is well 
to err on the side of an excessive time limit (a 
low value of S) rather than an inadequate one 
(a high S) . The higher the value of S, the more 
sensitive the test is to irregularities of timing 
and to unintentional differences among ex¬ 
aminers in their emphasis on speed versus 
accuracy. 

The use of S is suggested as an easy method 
of determining the premium placed on speed 
by any test and as a basis for determining 
whether or not appropriate time limits have 
been established. As experience develops, the 
meaning of smaller differences in S will become 
clear. It will then become necessary to refine 
the measure itself. 


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SELECTION OF TEST ITEMS BY CORRELATION WITH AN EXTERNAL CRITERION 151 


154 DETERMINING THE VALIDITY 
OF A TEST 

One of the most commonly employed pro¬ 
cedures for determining the validity of a test 
involves the following steps: (1) administering 
the test to a group of Service school candidates; 
(2) waiting until the men have completed their 
Service school training; and then (3) correlat¬ 
ing test scores with final achievement grades in 
the school. Obviously, this procedure demands 
that one wait as long as three or four months 
before it becomes possible to make a statement 
concerning the validity of the test in question. 

An alternative procedure, 3 intended to 
shorten the time necessary to secure validity 
data, was tried out in developing the Arith¬ 
metical Computation Test (AC) described in 
Chapter 2. It consisted of the following steps: 

1. Administering the test to be validated 
(AC in this case) to classes at the time of 
graduation and to other classes just entering 
training. 

2. Correlating AC scores with final school 
grades for the graduating classes. This gave 
validity coefficients but not necessarily the same 
ones which would have been obtained had AC 
been given before training started, for the 
training itself might have had a differential 
effect on the distribution of AC scores. In order 
to determine whether the obtained coefficients 
were reasonable estimates of those which 
would have been found by the usual technique, 
steps 3, 4, and 5 were carried out. 

3. Securing from the Q-cards scores on the 
Basic Battery tests for both entering and 
graduating classes. 

4. Determining regression coefficients, by the 

usual formula: b 12 = r 12 °f AC on GCT 

and AR, of GCT on AR, and of AR on GCT 
for both entering and graduating classes. 

5. Comparing the regressions of AC on GCT 
and on AR for graduating classes with those 
for entering classes and comparing the differ¬ 
ences obtained with differences in the regres¬ 
sion of GCT on AR and AR on GCT. These last 
two regressions involved tests which both 
entering and graduating classes had had prior 
to their entry into school; differential effects of 


training therefore could have had no influence 
on the regressions. Variability in these regres¬ 
sions could be attributed to sampling differ¬ 
ences and could be used as a standard for in¬ 
terpreting any differences between entering 
and graduating class regressions of AC on 
GCT and on AR. 

These comparisons were made for nine dif¬ 
ferent Service schools. None of the differences 
between regression coefficients of AC on AR 
or on GCT for entering and for graduating 
classes approached statistical significance. It 
was therefore concluded that the validity co¬ 
efficients obtained for the classes tested at the 
time of graduation were approximately the 
same as those which would have been obtained 
for the same classes had they been tested at 
entry in the usual manner. 

After the classes to which the AC test was 
given at the time of entry had graduated, it 
was possible to use their school grades to vali¬ 
date the AC in the usual manner. 5 It was thus 
possible to compare the estimated validity of 
the AC with the validity as determined by the 
usual technique. 

The comparison is shown in Table 2. In only 
two classes did the two validity coefficients dif¬ 
fer by more than .10. The mean of the differ¬ 
ences was .001. This difference was smaller 
than the differences in validity coefficients for 
most of the Basic Battery tests, for which the 
time of administration was not a variable. 
(Data for GCT are given in Table 2; compar¬ 
able data for all Basic Battery tests are given 
in reference 5.) It was concluded that the dif¬ 
ferences in AC validity between classes tested 
at graduation and those tested at entry were 
due to differences between the samples and not 
to the influence of training. 

This method is recommended for further 
trial in other situations. If it continues to work 
satisfactorily, it will be of considerable value 
in speeding up the validation of a new test. 

15 5 SELECTION OF TEST ITEMS BY 
CORRELATION WITH AN EXTERNAL 
CRITERION 

The criterion usually used in the evaluation 
of a test item is the total score on the test or 


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152 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO TEST THEORY AND TEST ADMINISTRATION 


subtest which includes the item. The criterion 
here is an internal one. Using an internal cri¬ 
terion emphasizes test reliability and tends to 
secure subtests which are homogeneous in con¬ 
tent. 

It is sometimes desirable to put greater 
emphasis on test validity than does the usual 
method of item analysis. In these cases the 
same external criterion, for example school 
grades, should be used for item analysis that 
is used for determining the validity of the total 
test. A method for conducting this type of item 
analysis has been suggested by Horst 6 and mod¬ 
ified by Applied Psychology Panel Project 
N-106. 2 


(Ti = \/piQi, which is the standard deviation of 
the item; 

p, = the proportion of the population answering 
an item correctly; 

qi = the proportion of the population answering 
the item incorrectly; 

r\* = the point-biserial correlation of the item 
with total-test score; and 

r*- c = the point-biserial correlation of the item 
with the external criterion. 

Note: These five statistics are computed 
from all cases taking the test and not just from 
the cases attempting each item. That is, a per- 


Table 2. Comparisons of validity coefficients of AC test given at time of entry and at time of graduation to men in six 
kinds of Service schools. 



N 


AC 



GCT 


Service 









school 

Grad. 

Ent. 

Grad. 

Ent. 

Diff. 

Grad. 

Ent. 

Diff. 

B. Eng 

214 

188 

.69 

.43 

-.26 

.54 

.31 

-.23 

EM 

67 

199 

.50 

.48 

-.02 

.01 

.45 

.44 


88 

77 

.41 

.59 

.18 

.45 

.55 

.10 

FC 

125 

117 

.38 

.38 

.00 

.46 

.30 

-.16 


73 

67 

.39 

.29 

-.10 

.35 

.25 

-.10 

QM 

48 

137 

.33 

.39 

.06 

.21 

.46 

.25 


63 

100 

.42 

.49 

.07 

.27 

.37 

.10 

SC and Bkr 

84 

72 

.34 

.40 

.06 

.11 

.11 

.00 

SK 

115 

149 

.39 

.37 

-.02 

.38 

.44 

.06 


111 

63 

.40 

.44 

.04 

.50 

.16 

-.34 

Mean difference 

.001 

.012 

Mean absolute difference 

.081 

.178 


In attempting to select a set of items such that 
the correlation with a criterion will be maxi¬ 
mized, it is desirable to select individual items 
which correlate high with the external cri¬ 
terion (grades) and relatively low with the in¬ 
ternal criterion (total-test score). However, 
such a statement does not take the difficulty of 
the item into consideration. If item difficulty 
is included in a theoretical analysis of this 
problem, it can be shown that it is desirable to 
have r ic o i for all the selected items as large as 
possible and r it a i as small as possible, where 


son who records no answer for the last 10 items 
in a test is counted as having answered those 
items incorrectly . 

By this procedure the validity of the test is in¬ 
creased at the expense of decreasing its hom- 
geneity as indicated by the split-half reliability 
coefficient. 

The procedure followed was to compute 
r it o if which is a “reliability” index, and 
r ic o if which is a “validity” index, for each item; 
to plot these values, with the validity index on 
the ordinate and the reliability index on the 


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V 


















SELECTION OF TEST ITEMS BY CORRELATION WITH AN EXTERNAL CRITERION 153 


abscissa for each of the 104 items in the Me¬ 
chanical Comprehension Test—OQT 0-2. Items 
lying above and to the left of a diagonal line 
through the origin were then selected for in¬ 
clusion in the test. This line was moved down 
until it included enough items to make up two 
30-item tests, called forms 2W and 3W. In 
order to make the items in the two tests match 
fairly well with respect to item content, a few 
items above this line were rejected. The plot 
is shown in Figure 3. The items selected for 


0.15 


o.io 


0.05 


0 * 


• 0.10 




0 

o 


o 

a 

o 

o 

Q 0^ 

o 

o O 

0 

O o O 

O 

O 

o * 

0 00 o 

o 

o 

a 

o „<■*— 


o 

eP o 

a o < 

° * *a 

A A 

A 

A 

A 

* A 

A 


k 

A 

A 

A 



) 

o ITEI 
° ITEI 
a REJ 

VIS SELEC' 
MS SELEC 
ECTED IT! 
1 

TED FOR 1 
TED FOR 1 

:ms 

i 

FORM 2W 
FORM 3W 

l 


0.05 O.IO 

RELIABILITY INDEX (r^CTj) 


0.25 


Figure 3. Item selection plot for the Mechani¬ 
cal Comprehension Test—OQT 0-2. 


form 2W of the test are indicated by circles; 
the items selected for form 3W by squares; and 
the rejected items by triangles. 

The data illustrated in Figure 3 are taken 
from an analysis of the mechanical comprehen¬ 
sion items in the experimental form of the 
Officer Qualification Test (OQT). Forms 2 and 
3 of the OQT were developed from this experi¬ 
mental form (see Chapter 3) but not by means 
of the method being described, that of correla¬ 
tion with an external criterion. Instead, the 
items actually included in Forms 2 and 3 of 
the OQT were selected by the more usual pro¬ 
cedure of correlation with an internal criterion. 
A comparison of the sets of items selected by 
the two methods showed much overlapping. Of 
the 60 items actually included in Forms 2 and 3, 
40 were also chosen by correlating with an ex¬ 


ternal criterion; 20 items included by correlat¬ 
ing with an internal criterion would not have 
been chosen by correlating with an external 
criterion. 

A sample of the tabulated statistical infor¬ 
mation computed for each item and used in 
selecting items on the basis of an external 
criterion is given in Table 3. 


Table 3. Item analysis data for items validated 
against an external criterion. 


Item 

No. 

in 

Form OQT 


0-2 

Form ru 

rtc 

ru<rt 

r icPi 

pq 

P 

N t 

39 

.10 

.20 

.0361 

.0745 

.2346 

.62 

418 

15 

2 .53 

.43 

.0722 

.0607 

.0668 

.93 

418 

7 

2 .47 

.20 

.1425 

.0606 

.0177 

.77 

418 

86 

2 .29 

-.16 

.1149 

-.0534 

.2238 

.34 

405 


Item 39 was an item of approximately aver¬ 
age difficulty (p = .62) which did not correlate 
very well with the other items in the test 
(r it = .10). It was not included in the final 
forms of the OQT. Its correlation with indoc¬ 
trination school grades (the external criterion) 
was somewhat higher than its correlation with 
the other items, so it would have been included 
had the external criterion of item selection 
been used. 

Item 15 was an easy item which showed sub¬ 
stantial correlations with both criteria. The 
use of either criterion would dictate its inclu¬ 
sion in the final test. 

Items 7 and 86 both showed appreciable cor¬ 
relations with total-test score and both were 
included in Form 2 of the OQT. One was some¬ 
what below and the other somewhat above 
average difficulty. When correlated with indoc¬ 
trination school grades both showed a low, and 
one a negative, correlation with the criterion. 
Both would have been rejected by the external 
criterion method. 

Note that items 39 and 7 both had an r ic of 
.20. But one was somewhat more difficult than 
the other. Item 39, for which r ic o i was larger 
than r it o if was acceptable on the external 
criterion basis, while item 7, for which r ic G i 
was less than r it o if was not. 


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154 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO TEST THEORY AND TEST ADMINISTRATION 


The use of an external criterion for item 
selection ought to increase the validity of the 
resulting test over that achieved by using an 
internal criterion. The available evidence indi¬ 
cates that it does. Forms 2 and 3 of the OQT 
as actually made up, using the customary in¬ 
ternal criterion, had validity coefficients of .35 
and .38. Validity coefficients of .46 and .48, for 
the two forms (2W and 3W) in which items 
were selected on the basis of an external cri¬ 
terion, were obtained by rescoring the original 


test papers using only the 60 items found in 
this test and computing the correlation of the 
new scores with indoctrination school grades. 
These coefficients would no doubt be lowered if 
the tests were used on a new population, but 
there is no satisfactory method available for 
estimating the amount of shrinkage. An em¬ 
pirical trial with a new sample was not feasible. 

Continued study of the value of this method 
of selecting items by using it in a number of 
trial situations is strongly recommended. 


RESTRICTED 



GLOSSARY 


LABORATORY NAME ABBREVIATIONS 


Brown. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 

C.E.E.B. College Entrance Examination Board, Prince¬ 
ton, New Jersey. 

Harvard. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massa¬ 
chusetts. 

N.A.S. National Academy of Sciences, Washington 25, 
D. C. 

N.Y.U. New York University, New York City. 

Penn. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. 

Penn. State. Pennsylvania State College, State Col¬ 
lege, Pennsylvania. 


Princeton. Princeton University, Princeton, New 
Jersey. 

Psych. Corp. Psychological Corporation, 522 Fifth 
Avenue, New York 18, New York. 

Rochester. University of Rochester, Rochester, New 
York. 

Stanford. Stanford University, California. 

Tufts. Tufts College, Medford, Massachusetts. 

U.S.C. University of Southern California, Los 
Angeles, California. 

Wis. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. 
Yerkes Lab. Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology, 
Orange Park, Florida. 


OTHER ABBREVIATIONS 


AA. Antiaircraft. 

AAA. Antiaircraft Artillery. 

AAF. Army Air Forces or Army Air Field. 

AC. Arithmetical Computation Test. 

AGCT. Army General Classification Test. 

AGO. Adjutant General’s Office. 

AI. Airborne Interception. 

APP. Applied Psychology Panel. 

AR. Arithmetical Reasoning Test. 

ARC-1. Army Radio Code Aptitude Test (same as 
SOR). 

AT. Arithmetic Test. 

BB. Battleship. 

BuPers. Bureau of Naval Personnel. 

CHL. Chain Home Link. 

CIC. Combat Information Center. 

COMINCH. Commander in Chief, United States Navy. 
COTCLANT. Commander, Operational Training Com¬ 
mand, United States Atlantic Fleet. 

COTCPAC. Commander, Operational Training Com¬ 
mand, United States Pacific Fleet. 

CRT. Code Receiving Tests. 

DD. Destroyer. 

DE. Destroyer Escort. 

ESF. Equivalent square feet. 

EW. Early Warning. 

FC. Fire Controlman. 

Form 20. War Department enlisted men’s personal 
record card. 

GCI. Ground Controlled Interception. 

GCT. General Classification Test (Navy). 

JL. A shipboard telephone circuit. 


LCVP. Landing Craft, Vehicles and Personnel. 

MAT. Mechanical Aptitude Test. 

MK-E. Mechanical Knowledge, Electrical. 

MK-M. Mechanical Knowledge, Mechanical. 

N. Number. 

Nf. The number of men in a group who attempted to 
answer a particular test item. 

NavPers. Bureau of Naval Personnel publication 
number. 

NDRC. National Defense Research Committee. 

NRC. National Research Council. 

NROTC. Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. 
NTS. Naval Training Station. 

NTSch. Naval Training School. 

OCS. Officer Candidate School. 

OQT. Officer Qualification Test. 

OSRD. Office of Scientific Research and Development. 
PI. Personal Inventory. 

PPI. Plan Position Indicator. 

Q-Card. Navy Enlisted Men’s Qualification Card. 

R. Reading Test. 

r. Correlation coefficient. 

rfois' Biserial correlation coefficient. 

S. A measure of the premium placed on speed by a 
test. 

g. Standard deviation. 

SCCAT. Signal Corps Code Aptitude Test. 

S.D. Standard deviation. 

SOR. Speed of Response Test of Code Aptitude. 

UOE. Unit of Error. 

V-12. A Navy college training program. 

WD. War Department. 


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BIBLIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER 1 

1. The Use of Test Scores and Quality-Classification 

Ratings in Predicting Success in Electrician’s 
Mates Schools, Herbert S. Conrad and G. A. Satter, 
OSRD 5667, CEEB, a Sept. 13, 1945. APP-420-M2 

2. Report of Observers, ETO, 11 March to 21 April 
19U5, Willard Machle and Frederick S. Brackett, 
Headquarters ETO, U. S. Army, APO 887, to 
Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, D. C., 
Apr. 27, 1945. 


CHAPTER 2 

1. Recommendations on Selection, Classification, and 
Training of Service Personnel, Memorandum to 
Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Washing¬ 
ton, D. C., from the Committee on Service Per¬ 
sonnel—Selection and Training, National Research 
Council, July 25, 1942. 

2. Naval Aptitude Tests: A. Reliability; B. Scoring 

Accuracy; C. Scoring Procedures, Harold Gulliksen, 
OSRD 1127, CEEB, Dec. 10, 1942. APP-322-M1 

3. Preparation of the United States Navy General 

Classification Test—Form 1, and the United States 
Navy Tests of Reading and Arithmetical Reason¬ 
ing, Form 1, H. Gulliksen, Project N-106, Memo¬ 
randum 7, CEEB, June 23, 1943. APP-327-M1 

4. Averages, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrela¬ 

tions of Navy Aptitude Tests, Harold Gulliksen, 
Herbert S. Conrad, and Norman Frederiksen, 
OSRD 1536, CEEB, June 7, 1943. APP-322-M2 

5. Suggestions for the Revision of the United States 
Navy Mechanical Aptitude Test, Form T, H. 
Gulliksen, Project N-106, Memorandum 2, Jan. 18, 

1943. APP-325-M1 

6. Factor Analysis of the New United States Navy 

Basic Classification Test Battery, D. A. Peterson, 
OSRD 3004, CEEB, Sept. 29, 1943. APP-412-M1 

7. Item Analysis of Navy Aptitude Tests, Herbert S. 
Conrad, OSRD 3039, CEEB, Dec. 30, 1943. 

APP-322-M3 

8. Validity of Navy Aptitude Tests in Service Schools 
at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, 
Norman Frederiksen, OSRD 3245, CEEB, Jan. 31, 

1944. APP-322-M4 


a College Entrance Examination Board. 


9. Statistical Analysis of the Mechanical Knowledge 
Test, Herbert S. Conrad, OSRD 3246, CEEB, Jan. 
28, 1944. APP-325-M3 

10. Validity of an Experimental Battery of Aptitude 

Tests at the Ordnance and Gunnery Schools, Wash¬ 
ington Navy Yard, Norman Frederiksen, OSRD 
3619, CEEB, Apr. 29, 1944. APP-322-M5 

11. Selection of Items for the US Navy General Classi¬ 
fication Test, Form 2, and the US Navy Tests of 
Reading and Arithmetical Reasoning, Form 2, G. A. 
Satter, OSRD 3756, CEEB, June 8, 1944. 

APP-412-M3 

12. The Preparation of Norms for the Fleet Edition of 

the General Classification Test, D. A. Peterson, 
OSRD 4242B, CEEB, Oct. 10, 1944. APP-414-M1 

13. The Construction and Validation of an Arithmetical 

Computation Test, G. A. Satter and Norman 
Frederiksen, OSRD 4556, CEEB, Jan. 8, 1945. ^ 

APP-411-M2 

14. A Statistical Evaluation of the Basic Classification 

Test Battery, Form 1, Herbert S. Conrad, OSRD 
4636, CEEB, May 14, 1945. APP-411-M3 s 

15. A Further Study of the Validity of the Arithmetical 

Computation Test, Norman Frederiksen, OSRD 
5302, CEEB, July 3, 1945. APP-411-M4 

16. Summary Report on Research and Development of 
the Navy’s Aptitude Testing Program, Herbert S. 
Conrad, OSRD 6110, CEEB, Oct. 31, 1945. 

APP-322-M6 

17. Statistical Method, Truman L. Kelley, Macmillan 
Co., New York, N. Y., 1923, Formula 186, p. 225. 

18. Enlisted Classification Bulletin, Navy Bureau of 
Personnel, September 1945, p. 8. 

19. Predictive Efficiency of the Navy Basic Test 
Battery at Naval Training School (Gunners Mates 
—Electrical Hydraulics), Navy Yard, Washington, 
D. C., Project 224, Navy Bureau of Personnel, Test 
and Research Section, July 1, 1945. 

20. “Psychological Test Construction and Research in 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel: Development of 
the Basic Test Battery for Enlisted Personnel,” 
Staff of the Test and Research Section, Psycholog¬ 
ical Bulletin, Vol. 42, 1945, pp. 561-571. 

21. “Psychological Test Construction and Research in 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel: Validity of the 
Basic Test Battery, Form 1, for Selection for Ten 
Types of Elementary Naval Training Schools,” 
Staff of the Test and Research Section, Psycho¬ 
logical Bulletin, Vol. 42, 1945, pp. 638-644. 


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157 



158 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER 3 

1. Preparation of a Preliminary Form of an Officers’ 

Selection Test, H. Gulliksen, Project N-106, Memo¬ 
randum 1, CEEB, Dec. 11, 1942. APP-319-M1 

2. Analysis of the N.R.O.T.C. Selective Examination 
(Form C) and Suggestions for Its Revision, Harold 
Gulliksen, OSRD 1290, CEEB, Feb. 15, 1943. 

APP-411-M1 

3. Preparation of the United States Navy Officer 

Qualification Test, Form 1, Harold Gulliksen, 
OSRD 1273, CEEB, Mar. 12, 1943. APP-319-M2 

4. Preparation of Norms for the Officer Qualification 
Test, Form 1, Norman Frederiksen, Project N-106, 
Memorandum 4, CEEB, May 28, 1943. 

APP-319-M3 

5. Comparison of the Officer Qualification Test, Form 
1, and the United States Navy Aptitude Test, Form 
E-2, Norman Frederiksen, Project N-106, Memo¬ 
randum 5, CEEB, June 1, 1943. 

6. Preparation of Norms for Women for the Officer 
Qualification Test, Form 1, H. Gulliksen, Project 
N-106, Memorandum 9, CEEB, July 24, 1943. 

APP-319-M4 

7. Development and Validity of the United States 

Navy Officer Qualification Test, Norman Frederik¬ 
sen and D. A. Peterson, OSRD 3186, CEEB, Jan. 
7, 1944. APP-319-M5 

8. Study of Combat Leadership, W. S. Hunter, Memo¬ 
randum to General Liaison Officers of the Applied 
Psychology Panel, NDRC, Mar. 3, 1944. 

9. Report to Applied Psychology Panel on Combat 
Leadership, Henry E. Garrett and Ernest M. Ligon, 
NAS, June 8, 1944. 

10. A Statistical Evaluation of the United States Navy 
Officers Qualification Test, Forms 2 and 3, D. A. 
Peterson, OSRD 3978, CEEB, Aug. 4, 1944. 

APP-319-M6 

11. Preliminary Summary of Results of the Study of 
the Effectiveness of the Classification Procedure for 
Officers, Amphibious Training Command, US 
Atlantic Fleet, Kinsley R. Smith and Harold A. 
Voss, Project N-117, Informal Memorandum 6, 
Pennsylvania State College, Apr. 12, 1945. 

APP-512-M5 

CHAPTER 4 

1. Standardization and Validation of the Personal In¬ 
ventory : Psychiatric Criterion, W. C. Shipley, 
Florence E. Gray, and Nancy Newbert, OSRD 1606, 
Brown University, June 24, 1943. APP-321-M1 


2. A Report of Research on Selection Tests at the US 
Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut, C. H. 
Graham, L. A. Riggs, N. R. Bartlett, R. N. Berry, 
W. S. Verplanck, R. L. Solomon, and C. G. Mueller, 
OSRD 1770, Brown University, June 28, 1943. 

3. Results Obtained from Testing Recruits with the 

New London-NDRC Questionnaire at the Newport 
Naval Training Station, F. A. Mote, R. N. Berry, 
and C. H. Graham, OSRD 3040, Brown University, 
Dec. 6, 1943. APP-324-M1 

4. The Relation of Selection Test Scores to Tank 

Escape Performance at the Submarine School, C. H. 
Graham, F. A. Mote, and R. N. Berry, OEMsr-834, 
OSRD 3262, Project N-113, Brown University, Jan. 
31, 1944. APP-413-M2 

5. Item Analysis and Evaluation of the Scoring 

Stencil of the Personal Inventory, W. C. Shipley, 
Florence E. Gray, and Nancy Newbert, OSRD 3315, 
Brown University, Feb. 14, 1944. APP-412-M2 

6. Test Scores of Amphibious Forces Personnel at 
Solomons, Maryland, Contrasted with Those Ob¬ 
tained by Personnel of Other Navy Activities, 
C. H. Graham, Project N-113, Memorandum 1, 
Brown University, Mar. 14, 1944. 

7. The Personal Inventory, Short Form, Format C: 
Derivation and Preliminary Psychiatric Validation, 
W. C. Shipley, Florence E. Gray, and Nancy New¬ 
bert, OSRD 3390, Brown University, Mar. 15, 1944. 

APP-321-M3 

8. The Comparability of Formats A and B of the 

Personal Inventory, R. N. Berry, H. J. Leavitt, and 
F. A. Mote, OSRD 3582, Brown University, Apr. 
21, 1944. APP-321-M4 

9. The Personal Inventory, Short Form, Format C: 
Psychiatric Validation on a Pre-Testing Basis, 
W. C. Shipley, Florence E. Gray, and Nancy New¬ 
bert, OSRD 3604, Brown University, May 1, 1944. 

APP-321-M5 

10. A Comparison of Personal Inventory Scores with 
Service Records One Year After Testing, Walter C. 
Shipley, Florence E. Gray, and Nancy Newbert, 
OSRD 3755, Brown University, June 10, 1944. 

APP-321-M6 

11. Results From the Long and Short Forms of the 
Personal Inventory and the General Classification 
Test, R. N. Berry, C. H. Graham, and F. A. Mote, 
OSRD 3962, Brown University, July 31, 1944. 

APP-321-M7 

12. Final Report in Summary of Research on the Per¬ 

sonal Inventory and Other Tests, W. C. Shipley and 
C. H. Graham, OSRD 3963, Brown University, 
Aug. 1, 1944. APP-321-M8 


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BIBLIOGRAPHY 


159 


13. Item Differentiation and Derivation of a 50-Item 

Scoring Key for the Officer Personal Inventory, 
Form 1, Kinsley R. Smith and Harold A. Voss, 
Project N-117, Memorandum 4, Pennsylvania State 
College, Feb. 8, 1945. APP-412-M5 

14. The Selection of Emotionally Unstable Personnel 

by Battle Noise Equipment, Eugene L. Hartley 
and Dorothea B. Jones, OSRD 4684, Brown Uni¬ 
versity, Feb. 10, 1945. APP-160-M1 

15. An Evaluation of the Personal Inventory for Pre¬ 

dicting Success in Parachute School, G. A. Satter, 
OSRD 4870, CEEB, Mar. 28, 1945. APP-321-M9 

16. NDRC Battle Noise Equipment, Utilization at In¬ 

filtration Range, Eugene L. Hartley, Project N-113, 
Informal Memorandum 6, Brown University, Apr. 
3, 1945. APP-630-M2 

17. Final Summary of Research on the Use of Battle 

Noise Equipment, Eugene L. Hartley and Dorothea 
B. Jones, OSRD 4931, Brown University, Apr. 12, 
1945. APP-630-M3 

18. An Evaluation of the Personal Inventory and Cer¬ 

tain Other Measures in the Prediction of Submarine 
Officers’ Evaluations of Enlisted Men, G. A. Satter, 
OSRD 5557, CEEB, Sept. 7, 1945. APP-321-M10 

19. Inter cor relations of Items of the NDRC Personal 
Inventory, and Correlations of These Items with 
Otis Intelligence Scores, N. R. Bartlett, Bureau of 
Medicine and Surgery Research Project X-460 
(Sub. 112), Medical Research Department, U. S. 
Submarine Base, New London, Conn., June 2, 1945. 

20. Application of the NDRC Personal Inventory to 
Marine Corps Officer Candidates: Preliminary 
Validation, S. B. Williams and H. J. Leavitt, 
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Research Project 
X-386 (Sub. 75), Camp LeJeune, N. C., Dec. 26, 
1944. 

21. Application of the NDRC Personal Inventory to 
Marine Corps Officer Candidates, Progress Report 
No. 2: Further Validation, S. B. Williams, H. J. 
Leavitt, and G. V. Mendola, Bureau of Medicine 
and Surgery Research Project X-386 (Sub. 75), 
Medical Field Research Laboratory, Camp LeJeune, 
N. C., Nov. 27, 1945. 

22. Application of the NDRC Personal Inventory to 
Marine Corps Officer Candidates, Progress Report 
No. 3: Data on Final 671 Candidates, H. J. Leavitt, 
S. B. Williams, and N. J. Lipkin, Bureau of Medi¬ 
cine and Surgery Research Project X-386 (Sub. 
75), Medical Field Research Laboratory, Camp 
LeJeune, N. C., Dec. 20, 1945. 

23. The Development of the MFRL Confidential Ques¬ 
tionnaire, S. B. Williams, H. J. Leavitt, and C. L. 
Blair, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Research 
Project X-615 (Stib. 133), Medical Field Research 
Laboratory, Camp LeJeune, N. C., Dec. 21, 1945. 


24. History of AAF Aviation Psychology Program. 
(Specific information not available.) 

CHAPTER 5 

1. Report on an Activity-Preference Test for the 
Classification of Service> Personnel, Truman L. 
Kelley, OSRD 4484, Final Report of Project SOS-7, 
Harvard University, Dec. 21, 1944. APP-521-M2 

CHAPTER 6 

1. The Experimental Edition of Code Receiving Tests, 
Albert K. Kurtz, Harold G. Seashore, and John M. 
Willits, OSRD 1314, Psychological Corp., Mar. 29, 

1943. APP-317-M1 

2. Instructor’s Manual for the Code Receiving Tests, 

NDRC Project N-107, Psychological Corp., Novem¬ 
ber 1943. APP-317-M2 

3. Tentative Manual and Guide for Using the Radio 
Code Test: Speed of Response, Form 1, NDRC 
Project N-107, Psychological Corp., Dec. 15, 1943. 

APP-317-M3 

4. The Prediction of Code Learning Ability, Albert K. 
Kurtz, OSRD 4059, Psychological Corp., Aug. 26, 

1944. APP-212.1-M1 

5. Experiments in Training Radar Operators in 

Visual Code Reception, Irving H. Anderson, Alfred 
L. Baldwin, Robert S. Daniel, William H. Lichte, 
Thomas L. McCulloch, Fred McKinney, and Donald 
B. Lindsley, OSRD 4811, Yerkes Laboratories, Mar. 
20, 1945. APP-212.5-M1 

6. “Eine Eignungsprufiing fur Funkentelegraphis- 
ten,” R. A. Biegel, Psychotechnische Zeitschrift , 
Vol. 6, April 1931, pp. 41-45. 

7. Report on a Code Aptitude Test, L. L. Thurstone, 
University of Chicago, May 1943. 

8. Report on Radio Code Aptitude Tests, PR U000, 
Adjutant General’s Office, Technical Section, Classi¬ 
fication and Replacement Branch, 1944. 

9. Memorandum on Comparison of Code Aptitude 
Test (Thurstone) and Radio Code Aptitude Test 
(Speed of Response), Pers-4122b-do, U. S. Navy, 
June 7, 1944. 

CHAPTER 7 

1. Instruction Manual for Oscilloscope Operator 
Tests: Experimental Edition, Donald B. Lindsley, 
OSRD 1811, Yerkes Laboratories, Sept. 1, 1943. 

APP-318-M2 

2. Oscilloscope Operator Tests: Experimental Edi¬ 

tion, Donald B. Lindsley, OSRD 1812, Yerkes Lab¬ 
oratories, Sept. 1, 1943. APP-318-M1 


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BIBLIOGRAPHY 


3. Preliminary Report of Results from Oscilloscope 

Operator Tests: Experimental Edition, Donald B. 
Lindsley, OSRD 1813, Yerkes Laboratories, Sept. 1, 
1943. APP-318-M3 

4. Proficiency Measures for Classification and Assign¬ 
ment of Operators of ASV Radar Equipment, 
Irving H. Anderson and others, OSRD 2012, 
Yerkes Laboratories, Sept. 29, 1943. APP-318.1-M1 

5. Development of Proficiency Measures for Classifica¬ 
tion and Assignment of Operators of ASV Radar 
Equipment, Irving H. Anderson and others, OSRD 
2013, Yerkes Laboratories, Sept. 29, 1943. 

APP-318.1-M2 

6. Vision as Related to Proficiency in Oscilloscope 
Operation, Irving H. Anderson and others, OSRD 
3409, Yerkes Laboratories, Feb. 24, 1944. 

APP-318-M5 

7. A Validational Study of Oscilloscope Operator 

Tests, Irving H. Anderson and others, OSRD 3712, 
Yerkes Laboratories, Apr. 24, 1944. APP-318-M6 

8. Report on Selection of Intercept Officer Candidates, 
George K. Bennett, NDRC Project N-109, Informal 
Memorandum 3, Psychological Corp., Jan. 19, 1945. 

APP-170-M2 

9. Prediction of Success in Training and Measurement 
of Achievement at Naval Training School (Tactical 
Radar), Bureau of Naval Personnel Project 412 
Research Report, May 1, 1945. 


CHAPTER 8 

1. Selection of Stereoscopic Range Finder Operators, 
OSRD 410, Section D-2, Fire Control, NDRC, 
Progress Report to the Services 22, Feb. 23, 1942. 

Div. 7-220.14-M16 

2. Description of Instruments for Use in the Selection 
of Stereoscopic Range Finder Operators, OSRD 
592, Section D-2, Fire Control, NDRC, Report to 
the Services 30, May 18, 1942. Div. 7-220.14-M4 

3. Manual for Use in the Selection of Stereoscopic 

Range Finder Operators, OSRD 721, Section D-2, 
Fire Control, NDRC, Report to the Services 31, 
July 7, 1942. Div. 7-220.14-M11 

4. Analysis of Factors Effective in the Use of the 

Stereoscopic Range and Height Finder, OSRD 862, 
Section D-2, Fire Control, NDRC, Report to the 
Services 32, Sept. 9, 1942. Div. 7-220.213-M3 

5. The Chromatic Dispersion of the Human Eye and 
Its Possible Influence on Stereoscopic Range Find¬ 
ing, OSRD 923, Section D-2, Fire Control, NDRC, 
Report to the Services 35, Oct. 1, 1942. 

Div. 7-230.1-M2 


6. Supplement to: Manual for Use in the Selection of 

Stereoscopic Range Finder Operators, OSRD 1210, 
Div. 7, Fire Control, NDRC, Report to the Services 
49, Feb. 17, 1943. Div. 7-220.14-M15 

7. Sex Differences in Stereoscopic Ranging and in 
Visual Tracking, OSRD 1250, Div. 7, Fire Control, 
NDRC, Report to the Services 52, Mar. 9, 1943. 

Div. 7-220.34-M2 

8. Manual for the Adjustment and Operation of the 

Projection Eikonometer, H. A. Imus, OSRD 1340, 
Brown University, Mar. 29, 1943. APP-122-M1 

9. Distribution of Measures of Inter pupillary Dis¬ 

tance, H. A. Imus, OSRD 1341, Brown University, 
Mar. 24, 1943. APP-121-M1 

10. The Adjustment of the M2 Trainer for Standard 

Testing, H. M. Fisher and H. A. Imus, OSRD 1638, 
Brown University, June 17, 1943. APP-652-M3 

11. The Relationship between Test Scores Obtained on 

the Single and Multiple Projection Eikonometers, 
H. A. Imus, OSRD 1789, Brown University, Aug. 
5, 1943. APP-122-M2 

12. The Selection of Stereoscopic Height Finder Ob¬ 

servers, W. C. Biel, W. J. Brogden, W. F. Dear¬ 
born, H. M. Fowler, C. H. Graham, H. A. Imus, 
W. E. Kappauf, and F. A. Mote, OSRD 1790, 
Brown University, Aug. 14, 1943. APP-120-M1 

13. The Relationship of Visual Acuity to Acuity of 

Stereoscopic Vision, J. K. Adams, H. M. Fowler, 
and H. A. Imus, OSRD 2087, Brown University, 
Sept. 15, 1943. APP-121-M2 

14. The Reliability and Precision of the NDRC and 

Bausch and Lomb Interpupillometers, J. K. Adams, 
D. C. Beier, and H. A. Imus, OSRD 3475, Univer¬ 
sity of Wisconsin, Mar. 29, 1944. APP-112.2-M1 

15. Final Report in Summary of Work on the Selection 

and Training of Stereoscopic Height Finder Ob¬ 
servers, W. C. Biel, W. J. Brogden, C. H. Graham, 
H. A. Imus, and W. E. Kappauf, OSRD 3773, 
Brown University, June 14, 1944. APP-120-M2 

16. The Reliability of Two Forms of an Activity Pref¬ 
erence Blank, J. K. Adams and H. M. Fowler, 
OSRD 3778, University of Wisconsin, June 19,1944. 

APP-112.1-M1 

17. The Construction and Calibration of the NDRC 
Interpupillometer, D. G. Ellson and H. A. Imus, 
OSRD 3797, University of Wisconsin, June 19, 1944. 

APP-112.2-M2 

18. A Test-Retest Reliability Study of the Bausch and 
Lomb Ortho-Rater with Naval Personnel, J. K. 
Adams, D. C. Beier, and H. A. Imus, OSRD 3969, 
University of Wisconsin, Aug. 1, 1944. 

APP-111.1-M1 


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BIBLIOGRAPHY 


161 


19. Manual for Use in the Selection of Fire Controlmen 

(0), (Stereoscopic Rangefinder Operators), H. A. 
Imus, OSRD 4050, University of Wisconsin, Aug. 
22, 1944. APP-111-M1 

20. Manual for the Installation and Adjustment of the 
Multiple Projection Eikonometer, H. A. Imus, 
OSRD 4233, University of Wisconsin, Oct. 10, 1944. 

APP-122-M3 

21. A Follow-up Study of the Efficiency of the Projec¬ 

tion Eikonometer Test in Predicting the Perform¬ 
ance of Stereoscopic Height Finder Observers, 
D. C. Beier, Florence Gray, H. A. Imus, and E. B. 
Knauft, OSRD 4352, University of Wisconsin, Nov. 
21, 1944. APP-122-M4 

22. The Selection of Fire Controlmen (0)—Rangefinder 

and Radar Operators, D. C. Beier and Florence 
Gray, OSRD 4861, University of Wisconsin, Mar. 
26, 1945. APP-111-M2 

23. Final Report in Summary of Research on the Selec¬ 

tion and Training of Rangefinder and Radar Opera¬ 
tors, W. J. Brogden, OSRD 5358, University of 
Wisconsin, July 23, 1945. APP-110-M1 

24. Intercorrelations between Scores on the Tufts 

Stereo-Trainer; the Navy Stereo-Trainer; the Bott 
Test of Stereo Acuity; the Vectographic Pursuit 
Apparatus; the Wulfeck Group Test of Stereo 
Acuity; and Two Tests of General Intelligence, 
Project 10, Progress Report to NDRC, Tufts Col¬ 
lege, June 18, 1942. Div. 7-220.15-M3 

25. The Correlation between the Keystone and Bott 

Tests of Stereopsis and Influence of Size of Test 
Stimidi in Judgments of Stereopsis, Project 10, 
Progress Report to NDRC, Tufts College, June 18, 
1942. Div. 7-220.15-M6 

26. The Test-Retest Reliability Coefficients of the Tufts 

Stereo-Trainer, the Navy Stereo-Trainer, Mark 
II, and the Bott Test of Stereo Acuity, Project 10, 
Progress Report to NDRC, Tufts College, June 18, 
1942. Div. 7-220.15-M4 

27. Validation and Standardization of Tests Used in 
the Selection of Stereoscopic Rangefinder Operators, 
Fire Control Research, Progress Report 15 to 
NDRC, Princeton University, July 13, 1942. 

28. Interrelationships among Seven Tests of Stereo¬ 
scopic Acuity and the Relationship between Two 
Tests of Visual Acuity and Two Tests of Phorias, 

H. M. Fowler, H. A. Imus, and F. A. Mote, Memo¬ 
randum 12, Brown University, Mar. 24, 1944. 

APP-121-M3 

29. GCT and MAT Selection Standards for Fire Con¬ 
trolmen (R), W. J. Brogden, Project N-114, In¬ 
formal Memorandum 1, Apr. 28, 1944. APP-112-M1 


CHAPTER 9 

1. How to Use the NDRC Model III Dark Adap- 
tometer, Rochester, N. Y., December 1942. 

APP-151-M1 

2. A Study of the Prediction of Night Lookout Per¬ 

formance, Carl H. Wedell, OSRD 3357, Princeton 
University, Mar. 15, 1944. APP-150-M1 

3. General Recommendations Concerning Lookouts, 
Carl H. Wedell, Memorandum to the Applied 
Psychology Panel, Project N-115, Memorandum 1, 
Princeton University, Sept. 15, 1944. APP-150-M2 

4. A Study of the Performance of Night Lookouts 

Aboard Ship, W. C. H. Prentice, OSRD 4087, 
Princeton University, Oct. 7, 1944. APP-150-M3 

5. Final Report in Summary of Work on the Selection 
and Training of Night Lookouts, C. H. Wedell, 
OSRD 4342, Princeton University, Nov. 15, 1944. 

APP-150-M5 

CHAPTER 10 

1. A Speech Interview for the Selection of Telephone 
Talkers, George K. Bennett and John W. Black, 
OSRD 1769, Psychological Corp., August 1943. 

APP-130-M1 

2. A Preliminary Study of the Abilities of Rated Men 
to Judge Speaking Performance, John C. Snidecor, 
OSRD 1823, Psychological Corp., August 1943. 

APP-218.31-M1 

3. Report on Seminar on Telephone Talking and Com¬ 

position of a Manual for the Use of Sound-Powered 
Phones, John C. Snidecor, NDRC Project N-109, 
Informal Memorandum 1, Psychological Corp., 
Sept. 28, 1943. APP-218.3-M1 

4. A Manual for the Training of Interviewers, John 

C. Snidecor and Grant Fairbanks, OSRD 1827, 
Psychological Corp. APP-218.31-M3 

5. A Study in Training Classification Petty Officers to 

Select Telephone Talkers, G. K. Bennett and J. W. 
Black, OSRD 1931, Psychological Corp., November 
1943. APP-218.31-M2 

6. Methods of Training Telephone Talkers for In¬ 
creased Intelligibility, John C. Snidecor, Louis A. 
Mallory, and Edward L. Hearsey, OSRD 3178, 
Psychological Corp., Jan. 28, 1944. APP-218.2-M1 

7. Information Regarding an Analysis of Recordings 

Made from the Telephone Circuits on Board a 
Battleship and a Destroyer, G. K. Bennett and 

J. W. Black, OSRD 3312, Psychological Corp., 
February 1944. APP-218.3-M2 

8. Final Report in Summary of Work on the Selection 

and Training of Telephone Talkers, Louis A. Mal¬ 
lory and William J. Temple, OSRD 5497, Psycho¬ 
logical Corp., Aug. 27, 1945. APP-218.1-M2 


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BIBLIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER 11 

1. Manual of Instruction for the Use of Findex Equip¬ 

ment in Personnel Placement: USS New Jersey, 
John M. Stalnaker, Committee on Service Per¬ 
sonnel—Selection and Training, National Research 
Council, June 28, 1943. APP-521-M1 

2. An Analysis of Men Entering the DD Pool, Pre¬ 
commissioning Training Center, Treasure Island, 
May 29 to July 29, 19J+U, Max M. Levin, OSRD 
4151, Stanford University, Sept. 20, 1944. 

APP-513-M1 

3. A Procedure for Sorting the Enlisted Personnel 
Qualifications Cards, G. A. Satter and N. C. Kep- 
hart, OSRD 4689, CEEB, Jan. 22, 1945. 

APP-532-M1 

4. The Selectometer, a Classification Guide, Evan R. 

Keisler, OSRD 4746, Stanford University, Feb. 24, 
1945. APP-521-M3 

5. Comments on the Manual Entitled “Handbook of 

Interviewing Guides for Destroyer (2200-Ton) 
Billets, Repair Party, Engine Room, Fire Room” 
(with accompanying handbook), Morris S. Viteles 
and John H. Gorsuch, NDRC Project NR-106, 
Memorandum 11, University of Pennsylvania, May 
14, 1945. APP-511-M2 

6. Classification Data Available to Ships’ Officers, 
D. A. Peterson, OSRD 5145, CEEB, May 30, 1945. 

APP-180-M1 

7. A Point Score Method for Evaluating Naval Per¬ 

sonnel, Max M. Levin, Ronald K. Campbell, Evan 
R. Keisler, and J. Bradley Sonderman, OSRD 5197, 
Stanford University, June 12, 1945. APP-522-M1 

8. An Experimental Personnel Record System for 
Shipboard Use, OSRD 5303, CEEB, July 3, 1945. 

APP-531-M2 

9. Memorandum on the Construction and Validation 

of a Work Readiness Test for Distilling Plant 
Operators, B. J. Covner, H. A. Voss, and S. M. 
Wesley, OSRD 5507, University of Pennsylvania, 
Aug. 29, 1945. APP-316-M1 

10. Memorandum on Constructing Work Readiness 
Tests, H. A. Voss and S. M. Wesley, OSRD 5521, 
University of Pennsylvania, Aug. 31, 1945. 

APP-328-M1 

11. Final Report in Summary of Research and Devel¬ 

opment of Classification Aids by NDRC Project 
N-116a, Ronald K. Campbell, OSRD 5647, Stanford 
University, Sept. 11, 1945. APP-520-M1 

12. Handbook of Interviewing Guides for Billets on 

2,200-Ton Destroyers: Ship Control, Combat Infor¬ 
mation, Communication, Damage Control, Engineer¬ 
ing, Gunnery (with accompanying handbook), A. G. 
Bayroff and R. M. Jones, OSRD 6115, University of 
Pennsylvania, Oct. 16, 1945. APP-511-M4 


13. Manual of Classification Procedures for Amphibious 
Training Bases, Amphibious Training Command, 
U. S. Atlantic Fleet, Naval Operating Base, Nor¬ 
folk, Va., Sept. 1, 1944. 

CHAPTER 12 

1. A Point Score Method for Evaluating Naval Per¬ 

sonnel, Max M. Levin, Ronald K. Campbell, Evan R. 
Keisler, and J. Bradley Sonderman, OSRD 5197, 
Stanford University, June 12, 1945. APP-522-M1 

2. Predicting Success in Service School from the 
Order of Assignment, G. A. Satter and Herbert S. 
Conrad, OSRD 5556, CEEB, Sept. 7, 1945. 

APP-420-M1 

3. Use of Test Scores and Quality-Classification Rat¬ 

ings in Predicting Success in Electrician’s Mates 
School, Herbert S. Conrad and G. A. Satter, OSRD 
5667, CEEB, Sept. 13, 1945. APP-420-M2 

4. Summary Report on Research and Development of 
the Navy’s Aptitude Testing Program, Herbert S. 
Conrad, OSRD 6110, CEEB, Oct. 31, 1945. 

APP-322-M6 

5. Manual for Processing the Enlisted Personnel 
Qualifications Card, U. S. Navy, NavPers 16704, 
January 1945. 

6. Manual of Procedures for U. S. Naval Training 
Station Selection Department, U. S. Navy, NavPers 
16710. 

CHAPTER 13 

1. A Speech Interview for the Selection of Telephone 
Talkers, George K. Bennett and John W. Black, 
OSRD 1769, Psychological Corp., August 1943. 

APP-130-M1 

2. Proficiency Measures for Classification and Assign¬ 

ment of Operators of ASV Radar Equipment, Irv¬ 
ing H. Anderson and others, OSRD 2012, Yerkes 
Laboratories, Sept. 29, 1943. APP-318.1-M1 

3. Memorandum on Service School Grades, Harold 
Gulliksen, OSRD 3177, CEEB, Jan. 6, 1944. 

APP-413-M1 

4. Manual for Use in the Selection of Fire Controlmen 

(0), (Stereoscopic Rangefinder Operators), H. A. 
Imus, OSRD 4050, University of Wisconsin, Aug. 
22, 1944. APP-111-M1 

5. The Code Receiving Tests, Albert K. Kurtz and 

Harold Seashore, OSRD 3157, Psychological Corp., 
Sept. 12, 1944. APP-317-M4 

6. A Procedure for Sorting the Enlisted Personnel 
Qualifications Cards, G. A. Satter and N. C. Kep- 
hart, OSRD 4689, CEEB, Jan. 22, 1945. 

APP-532-M1 


RESTRICTED 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 


163 


7. Final Report in Summary of Work on the Selection 

and Training of Cargo Handling Teams for Combat 
Laden Vessels, Floyd L. Ruch, OSRD 5140, USC, 
May 29, 1945. APP-222-M1 

8. Classification Data Available to Ships’ Officers, 
D. A. Peterson, OSRD 5145, CEEB, May 30, 1945. 

APP-180-M1 

9. The Development of Achievement Tests for Gun¬ 
ner’s Mates Schools, Norman Frederiksen and A. E. 
Monroe, OSRD 5259, CEEB, June 25, 1945. 

APP-311-M1 

10. An Experimental Personnel Record System for 
Shipboard Use, OSRD 5303, CEEB, July 3, 1945. 

APP-531-M2 

11. Final Report in Su?nmary of Work on the Job 
Analysis, Qualification, and Placement of Personnel 
in the Amphibious Force, Kinsley R. Smith, OSRD 
5422, Pennsylvania State College, Aug. 8, 1945. 

APP-512-M8 

12. Achievement Examinations for Signalman School, 
M. Duane Bown, Thelburn L. Engle, and Harold P. 
Bechtoldt, OSRD 5460, CEEB, Aug. 20, 1945. 

APP-312-M1 

13. Memorandum on the Construction and Validation 

of a Work Readiness Test for Distilling Plant Oper¬ 
ators, B. J. Covner, H. A. Voss, and S. M. Wesley, 
OSRD 5507, University of Pennsylvania, Aug. 29, 
1945. APP-316-M1 

14. Development of Achievement Tests for Class “A” 

Naval Training Schools (Torpedomen), Charles M. 
Harsh and Joseph B. Cooper, OSRD 5520, CEEB, 
Aug. 31, 1945. APP-311-M2 

15. Memorandum on Constructing Work Readiness 
Tests, H. A. Voss and S. M. Wesley, OSRD 5521, 
University of Pennsylvania, Aug. 31, 1945. 

APP-328-M1 

16. An Evaluation of the Personal Inventory and Cer¬ 

tain Other Measures in the Prediction of Submarine 
Officers’ Evaluations of Enlisted Men, G. A. Satter, 
OSRD 5557, CEEB, Sept. 7, 1945. APP-321-M10 

17. The Development of Performance Tests for Use in 

Class (( A” Electrical Schools, Merrell E. Thompson, 
and Norman Frederiksen, OSRD 5666, CEEB, Sept. 
13, 1945. APP-315-M1 

18. Development of Achievement Tests for the Landing 
Craft School, Coronado, California, Norman Fred¬ 
eriksen, OSRD 5670, CEEB, Sept. 14, 1945. 

APP-314-M1 

19. Development of Radio Code Receiving Examina¬ 

tions, M. Duane Bown and Harold O. Gulliksen, 
NDRC Project N-106, Memorandum 18, CEEB, 
Sept. 27, 1945. APP-317-M7 


20. Summary Report on Research and Development of 
the Navy’s Aptitude Testing Program, Herbert S. 
Conrad, OSRD 6110, CEEB, Oct. 31, 1945. 

APP-322-M6 

21. Manual of Procedures for U. S. Naval Classification 
Centers, NavPers 15082, Classification and Selec¬ 
tion Section, Bureau of Naval Personnel, February 
1945. 

22. Are Destroyer Radiomen Ready for Battle? [U. S. 
Navy publication. (?)] 

23. Memorandum to Director of Planning and Control, 
J. B. Hogle, Pers 6370-HMG-l, Bureau of Naval 
Personnel, Jan. 3, 1946. 

24. Manual of Navy Enlisted Job Classification, Nav¬ 
Pers 15105, U. S. Navy. 

CHAPTER 14 

1. Naval Aptitude Tests: A. Reliability; B. Scoring 

Accuracy; C. Scoring Procedures, OSRD 1127, 
CEEB, Dec. 10, 1942. APP-322-M1 

2. Preparation of a Preliminary Form of an Officers’ 

Selection Test, NDRC Project N-106, Memorandum 
1, CEEB, Dec. 11, 1942. APP-319-M1 

3. Suggestions for the Revision of the United States 

Navy Mechanical Aptitude Test, Form T , NDRC 
Project N-106, Memorandum 2, CEEB, Jan. 18, 
1943. APP-325-M1 

4. Analysis of the NROTC Selective Examination, 

Form C, and Suggestions for Its Revision, OSRD 
1290, CEEB, Feb. 15, 1943. APP-411-M1 

5. Preparation of the United States Navy Officer 

Qualification Test, Form 1, OSRD 1273, CEEB, 
Mar. 12, 1943. APP-319-M2 

6. Preparation of an Experimental Form of a Spatial 
Relations Test, Norman Frederiksen, NDRC Project 
N-106, Memorandum 3, CEEB, May 27, 1943. 

APP-323-M1 

7. Preparation of Norms for the Officer Qualification 
Test, Form 1, Norman Frederiksen, NDRC Project 
N-106, Memorandum 4, CEEB, May 28, 1943. 

APP-319-M3 

8. Averages, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrela¬ 

tions of Navy Aptitude Tests, Harold Gulliksen, 
Herbert S. Conrad, and Norman Frederiksen, OSRD 
1536, CEEB, June 7, 1943. APP-322-M2 

9. Preparation of the United States Navy General 
Classification Test, Form 1, and the United States 
Navy Tests of Reading and Arithmetical Reasoning, 
Form 1, Norman Frederiksen, NDRC Project 
N-106, Memorandum 7, CEEB, June 23, 1943. 

APP-327-M1 


RESTRICTED 



164 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


10. Preparation of Experimental Forms of the United 
States Navy General Classification Test and the 
United States Navy Tests of Reading and Arith¬ 
metical Reasoning, Norman Frederiksen, NDRC 
Project N-106, Memorandum 8, CEEB, June 28, 

1943. 

11. Preparation of Norms for Women for the Officer 
Qualification Test, Form 1 , NDRC Project N-106, 
Memorandum 9, CEEB, July 24, 1943. 

APP-319-M4 

12. Factor Analysis of the New United States Navy 

Basic Classification Test Battery, D. A. Peterson, 
OSRD 3004, CEEB, Sept. 29, 1943. APP-412-M1 

13. Item Analysis of Navy Aptitude Tests, Herbert S. 
Conrad, OSRD 3039, CEEB, Dec. 30, 1943. 

APP-322-M3 

14. Development and Validity of the United States 

Navy Officer Qualification Test, Norman Frederik¬ 
sen and D. A. Peterson, OSRD 3186, CEEB, Jan. 
7, 1944. APP-319-M5 

15. Selection of Test Items by Correlation with an 
External Criterion, as Applied to the Mechanical 
Comprehension Test — OQT-O-2, Harold Gullik- 
sen, OSRD 3187, CEEB, Jan. 8, 1944. APP-325-M2 

16. Statistical Analysis of the Mechanical Knowledge 

Test, Herbert S. Conrad, OSRD 3246, CEEB, Jan. 
28, 1944. APP-325-M3 

17. Selection of Items for the US Navy General Classi¬ 
fication Tests, Form 2, and the US Navy Tests of 
Reading and Arithmetical Reasoning, Form 2, 
G. A. Satter, OSRD 3756, CEEB, June 8, 1944. 

APP-412-M3 

18. A Statistical Evaluation of the United States Navy 

Officer Qualification Test, Forms 2 and 3, OSRD 
3978, CEEB, Aug. 4, 1944. APP-319-M6 

19. Characteristics and Uses of Item-Analysis Data, 
Herbert S. Conrad, OSRD 4034, CEEB, Aug. 19, 

1944. APP-412-M4 

20. The Preparation of Norms for the Fleet Edition of 

the General Classification Test, D. A. Peterson, 
OSRD 4242B, CEEB, Oct. 10, 1944. APP-414-M1 

21. The Construction and Validation of an Arithmetical 
Computation Test, G. A. Satter and Norman 
Frederiksen, OSRD 4556, CEEB, Jan. 8, 1945. 

APP-411-M2 


22. A Statistical Evaluation of the Basic Classification 
Test Battery, Form 1 , Herbert S. Conrad, OSRD 
4636, CEEB, May 14, 1945, pp. 77-84. 

APP-411-M3 

23. A Further Study of the Validity of the Arithmetical 

Computation Test, Norman Frederiksen, OSRD 
5302, CEEB, July 3, 1945. APP-411-M4 

24. Achievement Examination for Signalman School, 
M. Duane Bown, Thelburn L. Engle, and Harold P. 
Bechtoldt, OSRD 5460, CEEB, Aug. 20, 1945. 

25. Summary Report on Research and Development of 
the Navy’s Aptitude Testing Program, Herbert S. 
Conrad, OSRD 6110, CEEB, Oct. 31, 1945. 

APP-322-M6 

26. “The Relation of Item Difficulty and Inter-item 
Correlation to Test Variance and Reliability,” 
Harold Gulliksen, Psychometrika, Vol. 10, 1945, pp. 
79-91. 

27. Program Outlined for Peacetime Enlisted Classi¬ 
fication, Enlisted Classification Bulletin, Septem¬ 
ber 1945. 


CHAPTER 15 

1. Naval Aptitude Tests: A. Reliability; B. Scoring 

Accuracy; C. Scoring Procedures, OSRD 1127, 
CEEB, Dec. 10, 1942. APP-322-M1 

2. Selection of Test Items by Correlation with an 
External Criterion, as Applied to the Mechanical 
Comprehension Test — OQT-O-2, Harold Gullik¬ 
sen, OSRD 3187, CEEB, Jan. 8, 1944. APP-325-M2 

3. The Construction and Validation of an Arithmetical 
Computation Test, G. A. Satter and Norman 
Frederiksen, OSRD 4556, CEEB, Jan. 8, 1945. 

APP-411-M2 

4. A Statistical Evaluation of the Basic Classification 

Test Battery, Form 1, Herbert S. Conrad, OSRD 
4636, CEEB, May 14, 1945. APP-411-M3 

5. A Further Study of the Validity of the Arithmetical 

Computation Test, Norman Frederiksen, OSRD 
5302, CEEB, July 3, 1945. APP-411-M4 

6. “Item Selection by Means of a Maximizing Func¬ 
tion,” Paul Horst, Psychometrika, Vol. 1, Decem¬ 
ber 1936, pp. 229-244. 


RESTRICTED 



OSRD APPOINTEES 


C. W. Bray 


G. K. Bennett 
C. W. Bray 
Leonard Carmichael 
C. H. Graham 


Applied Psychology Panel 

Chiefs 

W. S. Hunter 
C. W. Bray 

Technical Aides 

Dael Wolfle 

Members 


J. L. Kennedy 


W. S. Hunter 
J. M. Stalnaker 
M. S. Viteles 
Dael Wolfle 


RESTRICTED 


165 


CONTRACT NUMBERS, CONTRACTORS, AND SUBJECTS OF CONTRACTS 


Contract 

Number 

Contractor 

Subject 

OEMsr-581 

The Trustees of Tufts College 
Medford, Massachusetts 

Studies of operator performance and sources of error in the 
operation of field artillery, tank destroyer, and tank guns, and 
in all types of antiaircraft equipment. 

OEMsr-614 

National Academy of Sciences 
Washington, D. C. 

To establish a Committee to carry on research on selection, train¬ 
ing, and related problems of manpower use; to study the 
design of equipment in terms of human capacities; to advise 
NDRC as to additional research required in the above fields 
and to recommend to NDRC contractors for carrying on the 
work. 

OEMsr-700 

The Trustees of the University 
of Pennsylvania 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

Studies in the selection and training of naval gun crews and 
personnel for destroyers and destroyer escorts; evaluation of 
methods of training free (aerial) gunners. 

OEMsr-705 

College Entrance Examination 
Board 

Princeton, New Jersey 

Studies and experimental investigations necessary to develop 
the Navy’s aptitude and achievement testing program. 

OEMsr-815 

Brown University 

Providence, Rhode Island 

Studies and experimental investigations in connection with the 
selection and training of heightfinder and rangefinder opera¬ 
tors and fire controlmen; preparation of operating instructions 
for Navy gun directors; improvement in the design of fire 
control equipment. 

OEMsr-830 

The Psychological Corporation 
New York, New York 

Studies in the selection of men for communication by voice and 
by radio code; development of methods of training voice and 
radio code communication personnel; development of a device 
for transferring Morse code signals to typescript. 

OEMsr-834 

Brown University 

Providence, Rhode Island 

Studies of methods of identifying emotionally unstable men prior 
to their assignment to military duty; studies of the usefulness 
of Battle Noise Equipment in selecting and training military 
personnel and retraining psychiatric casualties. 

OEMsr-919 

Yerkes Laboratories of Pri¬ 
mate Biology, Inc. 

Orange Park, Florida 

Studies of the selection and training of radar operators and the 
operation of radar equipment. 

OEMsr-1136 

Princeton University 

Princeton, New Jersey 

Studies of the selection and training of night lookouts and of 
night lookout performance. 

OEMsr-1171 

The Regents of the University 
of Wisconsin 

Madison, Wisconsin 

Studies to develop military requirements for flexible gunnery 
equipment which should be determined by the characteristics 
of Army gunners; to assist in the development of valid train¬ 
ing methods for flexible gunners; to develop adequate methods 
for the selection and training of personnel for duty in gun 
directors. 

OEMsr-1213 

The President and Fellows of 
Harvard College 

Cambridge, Massachusetts 

Studies of methods of testing the relative strength of various 
interests by determining activity preferences. 

OEMsr-1298 

The Trustees of Pennsylvania 
State College 

State College, Pennsylvania 

Studies of job analysis, qualification, and placement of per¬ 
sonnel in the amphibious forces. 

OEMsr-1340 

The Board of Trustees of the 
Leland Stanford Junior 
University 

Stanford University, 
California 

Studies of methods and devices to aid in the classification and 
placement of men in naval jobs. 

OEMsr-1372 

The Trustees of the University 
of Southern California 

Los Angeles, California 

Studies in the selection and training of hatchmen and winch- 
men specialist teams on AKA and APA vessels. 


166 


RESTRICTED 







SERVICE PROJECT NUMBERS 

The projects listed below were transmitted to the Office of the 
Executive Secretary, OSRD, from the War or Navy Depart¬ 
ment through either the War Department Liaison Officer for 
NDRC or the Office of Research and Inventions (formerly the 
Coordinator of Research and Development), Navy Department. 


Service 

Project 

Number Title 


Army Projects 

AC-92 Investigation of the Ability of Gunners to Learn the Use of Remote Fire Control Sys¬ 

tems of Flexible Gunnery. 

AC-94 Psychological Factors in the Operation of Flexible Gunnery Equipment. 

SC-67 Training Program in Voice Communication. 

SC-70 Selection and Training of Radar Operators. 

SC-88 Methods of Training Radio Code Operators. 

SOS-6 Study of Operator Performance on All Types of Antiaircraft Equipment. 

SOS-7 Development of an Activity Preference and Interest Inventory. 

SOS-11 Psychological Factors in Operation and Design of Field Artillery, Tank Destroyer, and 

Tank Sighting Equipment. 

. Selection and Training of Height Finder Operators. 

Navy Projects 

N-100 Committee on Applied Psychology in the War and Committee on Service Personnel— 

Selection and Training. 

N-104 Determination of Reliability, Objectivity, Validity, and Independence of Medical Tests. 

N-105 Selection and Training of Naval Gun Crews. 

N-106 Research and Development of the Navy’s Aptitude Testing Program. 

N-107 Selection and Training of Radio Code Operators. 

N-109 Selection and Training of Personnel Using Voice Communication Systems. 

N-lll Psychological Problems in Operation of Antiaircraft Lead Computing Sights and 

Directors. 

N-112 Study and Evaluation of Sighting Methods of Instruction Used in U. S. Naval Free 

Gunnery Training. 

N-113 Research on a Personal Inventory and Other Tests for Selection for Special Service 

Tasks. 

N-114 Selection and Training of Rangefinder and Radar Operators. 

N-115 Selection and Training of Night Lookouts. 

N-116 Selection and Training of Personnel. 

N-117 Job Analysis, Qualification, and Placement of Personnel in the Amphibious Forces. 

NR-106 Selection and Training of Personnel Assigned to Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts. 

NS-146 Selection and Training of Radar Operators. 

NS-366 Development of Morse Code Actuated Printer. 


RESTRICTED 


167 











Appendix 


RESTRICTED 













































# 
























































• 
































FORM 1 


UNITED STATES NAVY 
OFFICER QUALIFICATION TEST 


Read this first : This test Is designed to enable you to provide further 
evidence regarding your abilities. There is no passing or failing score 
for the test and no one will be disqualified because of the test score 
alone. Your score will simply be regarded as further information about 
you to be added to your application record. Work as well as you can, 
wasting no time. No one is expected to answer all of the questions correct¬ 
ly, A.s a matter of fact, you may answer a substantial number of items 
Incorrectly and still secure a score that is at least average. 


Directions for Taking the Test 

First, print your name and the other required information on the separate 
answer sheet furnished with this booklet. Do this now. After filling in 
these blanks on the answer shee.t, read the rest of these directions. 

The test consists of three parts. The total time for all three parts la 
one hour. You may divide your time as you wish, but the following 
division is recommended as being to your advantage: 

Part I 15 minutes 

Part II 15 minutes 

Part III 25 minutes 

This schedule leaves 5 minutes to spend on any of the parts which you have 
not finished, or to check any answers about which you are not sure. 
Remember, you have one hour to read the directions carefully and to 
answer as many questions as you can. 

Directions and sample questions precede the questions for each part. 
Indicate all your answers on the separate answer sheet. Give only one 
answer to each question; double answers are graded as incorrect. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question or on any one part. If you 
are uncertain, mark the answer you think is most likely to be correct. 

If you have a question now or at any time during the test, raise your 
hand and someone will come to you. 

Make no marks in this test booklet. Indicate all answers on the separate 
answer sheet. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question or any one part. 

Now read the directions for Part I on the next page and start to work at 
once. As soon as you finish any one page or any one part, go right on 
to the next without waiting for further instructions. 


NOTICE: 

This test is not to be shown, or the contents revealed, to unauthorized persons in or 
out of the Navy, or reproduced in whole or in part without written authorization from 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel of the United States Navy. This test booklet must be 
surrendered with the answer sheet at the close of the test. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART I, 

RESTRICTED 


171 













Suggested timet 
15 minute8 


PART I 


OPPOSITES 


Directions 


Each question In this part consists of a CAPITALIZED word followed 
by five other words numbered from 1 to 5. Decide which one of 
the five numbered words is most nearly opposite in meaning to the 
capitalized word. Indicate your choice Dy making a heavy black 
mark between the lines under the corresponding number on the 
separate answer sheet. 

The questions below have already been marked correctly on the 
Sample Answer Blank, Study these questions and be sure that you 
understand how the answers are indicated. 


A, HOT 

1 plain 2 heavy 3 cold 4 soft 5 clean 

B, LAUGH 

1 giggle 2 amuse 3 snort 4 grieve 5 cry 

C, LUXURY 

1 simplicity 2 delicacy 3 flourish 4 dirt 5 elegance 
Sample Answer Blank 

1 2 3 4 5 

« I III 

1 2 3 4 5 


1 2 3 4 5 

I 1! II II II 


Now begin working on OPPOSITES, Mark each answer in the proper space 
on the separate answer sheet, Mark only ONE answer to each question. 
Remember you are to choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning 
to the CAPITALIZED word. Do not make any marks in this booklet. 

Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 

When you finish Part I, go right on to Part II, 


A 

B 

C 


172 


2 


DO NOT STOP, GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE 

RESTRICTED 


















OPPOSITES 

Mark only on separate answer sheet* 

1. CREDITABLE 

1 accidental 2 unworthy 3 invisible 4 menacing 5 vigilant 

2. DISTINCT 

1 infi.rm 2 indivisible 3 vague 4 complex 5 erroneous 

3. COGNIZANT 

1 uncalled-for 2 deep-seated 3 inadequate 4 original 5 unaware 

4. INVALUABLE 

1 priceless 2 expensive 3 mercenary 4 violable 5 worthless 

5. PERTINENT 

1 comparable 2 irrelevant 3 courteous 4 melancholy 5 yielding 

6. CARDINAL 

1 exotic 2 passionate 3 nonessential 4 fraudulent 5 unavowed 

7. ZEALOUS 

1 dauntless 2 fanatical 3 humane 4 listless 5 unpatriotic 

8. EMIT 

1 retreat 2 rebound 3 absorb 4 atone 5 crush 
9* FLUX 

1 stability 2 piety 3 severity 4 elation 5 penury 

10. VERIFICATION 

1 deprivation 2 experiment 3 inquiry 4 refutation 5 repute 

11. DYNAMIC 

1 defensive 2 chaotic 3 fruitless 4 apathetic 5 onerous 

12. WARY 

1 coy 2 stalwart 3 rash 4 lusty 5 shrill 

13. MANDATORY 

1 unpretentious 2 derogatory 3 discretionary 4 derisive 5 palatable 

14. REQUISITE 

1 dispensable 2 imperative 3 perquisite 4 prerequisite 5 unrequited 

15. PERMEABLE 

1 adhesive 2 impervious 3 indulgent 4 negotiable 5 solvent 

16. FUNDAMENTAL 

1 voluminous 2 approximate 3 perplexing 4 superficial 5 quiescent 

17. PHLEGMATIC 

1 ungainly 2 ungracious 3 excitable 4 urbane 5 wholesome 

18. RECALCITRANCE 

1 cooperation 2 resonance 3 restoration 4 relaxation 5 suavity 

19. ARBITRARY 

1 absurd 2 incompetent 3 productive 4 reasoned 5 unreasoned 

20. DISCREPANT 

1 fortunate 2 adept 3 consistent 4 obvious 5 intrinsic 

21. APPRECIABLE 

1 concise 2 deterrent 3 discordant 4 negligible 5 ungrateful 

22. EXTRANEOUS 

1 extrinsic 2 feasible 3 genuine 4 integral 5 tangible 

23. FACIIE 

1 arduous 2 cursory 3 infamous 4 purblind 5 factitious 

24. DIMINUTION 

1 exhibition 2 anticipation 3 augmentation 4 elevation 5 transmutation 

25. PROPITIOUS 

1 auspicious 2 adverse 3 controversial 4 Inexperienced 5 disputatious 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 

RESTRICTED 


3 


173 


26. ASCERTAIN 

1 conjecture 2 demur 3 discern 4 dissuade 5 underestimate 

27. EXPEDITIOUS 

1 dilatory 2 elusive 3 habitual 4 latent 5 scrupulous 


28. 

29. 

30. 

31. 

32. 

33. 

34. 

35. 

36. 

37. 

38. 


PROSPECTIVE 

1 evasive 2 impending 3 perspective 
OBVIATE 

1 necessitate 2 dissimulate 3 vilify 
ACTUATE 


4 detected 5 realized 
4 diversify 5 domineer 


1 defy 2 denounce 3 inhibit 4 obliterate 
EFFETE 

1 judicious 2 robust 3 placable 4 paltry 


5 support 
5 wonted 


SALUTARY 

1 civilian 2 detrimental 3 brusque 4 nutritious 5 valedictory 
AUTOMATIC 

l' deliberate 2 sporadic 3 ineffectual 4 inflammable 5 intimate 
EXPEDIENT 

1 admissible 2 devious 3 leisurely 4 gradual 5 Inadvisable 
INTELLIGIBLE 

1 simulated 2 Inscrutable 3 indescribable 4 ingenuous 5 innocuous 
REDUNDANT 

1 exalted 2 slack 3 emollient 4 staid 5 succinct 
EXACERBATE 

1 reverberate 2 assuage 3 temporize 4 effervesce 5 coordinate 
DUCTILE 


1 supine 2 refractory 3 pliant 4 Infallible 5 indefatigable 

39. DESICCATED 

1 protracted 2 embellished 3 affluent 4 coarsened 5 saturated 

40. PIQUANT 

1 precise 2 vapid 3 anomalous 4 sagacious 5 munificent 

41. ENERVATE 

1 intimidate 2 energize 3 horrify 4 ingratiate 5 satiate 

42. IMPROVIDENT 


1 grudging 2 frugal 3 opportune 4 reverent 5 utilitarian 

43. INCLEMENT 

1 contrite 2 conventional 3 implacable 4 lenient 5 incessant 

44. DESULTORY 

1 cursory 2 methodical 3 vibrant 4 arrant 5 boisterous 

45. SYNOPTIC 

1 indicative 2 ocular 3 discursive 4 resultant 5 undeveloped 

46. PERFUNCTORY 

1 ardent 2 astute 3 constructive 4 erratic 5 peerless 

47. LIMPID 

1 Inflated 2 sonorous 3 vigorous 4 turbid 5 pellucid 

48. PALPABLE 

1 adamant 2 noisome 3 blatant 4 defunct 5 incorporeal 

49. SEDULOUS 

1 indolent 2 agnostical 3 uncouth 4 authoritative 5 irascible 

50. INTRANSIGENCY 


1 culpability 2 license 3 motivation 4 serenity 5 vacillation 


174 


4 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART II 

RESTRICTED 


Suggested timet 
15 minutes 


PART II 


MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION 


Directions 

This part consists of pictures about which questions are asked. Following 
each question are three answers. Decide which one of the answers is 
correct and make a heavy black mark between the lines under the correspond¬ 
ing number on the answer sheet. 

The questions below have already been answered correctly on the Sample 
Answer Blank. Study them and be sure that you understand the problems 
and how the answers are indicated. 




X 

At which place should one grasp 
the handle in order to pull out 
the nail more easily? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It makes no difference. 

Y 

Which bridge is stronger? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally strong. 


Sample Answer Blank 

1 2 3 

x I Mi 

1 2 3 


Now begin working on MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION. Mark each answer In the 
proper space on the separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer to each 
question. Do not make any marks in this booklet. Work as fast and as 
accurately as you can. 

When you finish Part II, go right on to Part III. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


5 


RESTRICTED 


175 








MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION 
Mark only on separate answer sheet 




51 

Which bridge is stronger? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally strong. 



52 

With which handle can one lift 
the heavier weight? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It makes no difference. 

53 

Which radiator will get hot first when 
a fire is started in the furnace? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They will get hot at the same 
time. 


54 

Which motor boat is approaching the 
dock correctly for landing? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Both are approaching correctly 


176 


6 


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55 





Which ball will roll to the bottom in 
the shortest time? 

(1) A 

(2) B 


A B 



56 

In which direction is the object more 
likely to roll? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It is no more likely to roll 
in one direction than in the 
other. 


57 

Which peavey is correctly placed for 
rolling the log to the right? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Both are correctly placed. 




58 

In which position will the man get 
a clearer picture of both the nearest 
and the farthest face? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) The two faces will be equally 
clear in either position. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


7 


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177 












59 



Which boy can throw the ball farther? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They can throw it equally far. 



60 

Which lens would be better for light¬ 
ing a fire? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally good. 



61 

In which direction will the belt at 
the right move? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Neither; the driver will slip. 



62 

In which direction will shaft X turn? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Neither; the belt will slip. 


178 


8 


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63 


A 



At which point is the baseball travel¬ 
ing faster? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It travels at the same speed 
at both points. 



64 

Against which window does the water 
press harder? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It presses equally hard against 
both. 



66 



The bottom of the vessel of water will 
appear to be nearer which point? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) C 


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179 



















67 



Which light will be brighter? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They will be equally bright. 


68 

Which switch should be closed first? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It makes no difference. 


69 

In which direction is it safer to turn 
the sailboat? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It is equally safe to turn it 
in either direction. 


70 

In which direction is the breeze more 
likely to be blowing? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It is equally likely to be blow- 
ing in either direction. 


10 DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


180 


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71 

The train whistle v/ill sound higher in 
pitch if a man is in which position? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It will have the same pitch in 
either position. 


72 

At which point would it be more dangerous 
to light a match? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It would be equally dangerous 
at both points. 


73 

Which ten-pound cylinder will roll 
farther to the right? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They will roll equally far. 






74 

Will the solid cylinder A or the hollow 
cylinder B roll higher up the incline 
at the right? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Both will roll equally high. 


; 


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181 





























75 

Which magnetized needle is farther 
from the 3quator? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are the same distance from 
the equator. 



ABC 


76 

Which cart is more likely to tip for¬ 
ward when pulled by the rope? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally likely to 
tip. 

77 

Which picture shows how the ball would 
be reflected in the curved mirror? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) C 



78 

Which weight would need to be heavier 
in order to balance the 200-pound load? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Equal weights would be needed. 



182 


12 


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79 



The weight will be easier to lift if 
the hook is attached to which ring? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It will he equally easy with 
either ring. 



B 


80 

Which car is more likely to move? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Both are likely to move. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART III 

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13 


183 














































Suggested time: 
25 minute8 


PART III 

ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


Directions 


This part consists of arithmetic problems. Following each problem 
are five answers, lettered from (a) to (e); one of these answers 
is correct. Solve each problem and indicate your answer by a 
heavy black mark in the appropriate space on the answer sheet. 

Use the back of the separate answer sheet for figuring. 

The answers to the problems below have already been marked on the 
Sample Answer Blank. Solve these problems for yourself and be 
sure that you agree. 

A. If three pencils cost 5 cents, how many pencils can be bought 
for 15 cents? 

(a) 5 (b) 7 (c) 9 (A) 10 (e)15 


B. Three-fifths of the 240 uniforms for a company were delivered. 
How many uniforms were there yet to oome? 

(a) 48 (b) 60 (c) 90 (d) 96 (e) 144 


Sample Answer Blank 


A II 

B f 


bed 

ii f t: 

!i I 

b o 

ji ij 


e 

!i 

ii 


Now begin working on ARITHMETICAL REASONING. Mark each answer in 
the proper space on the separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer 
to each problem. Do not make any marks in this booklet. Use the 
back of the separate answer sheet for figuring. Work as fast and as 
accurately as you can. 


184 


14 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE 

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ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


Mark only on separate answer sheet. Use hack of the answer sheet for figuring. 
81. The distance between Boston and Halifax is 450 miles. How many inches would 



(a) 3 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 9 (e) 27 


82. Synthetic rubber costs 40 cents a pound vtfiereas plantation rubber costs 15 
cents a pound. The Hospital Corps uses 4,000 pounds a month in adhesive 
tape. How much do they save in a month on the rubber alone by using 
plantation rubber? 

(a) $600 (b) $1,000 (c) $15,000 (d) $60*000 (e) $100,000 


83. A man averages 90 on three arithmetic tests. His scores on the first and 
second tests were 85 and 94. What was his score on the third test? 

(a) 89 (b) 89* (c) 89§ (d) 9oJ (e) 91 

2 3 2 

84. Two submarines start from the same base and travel in the same direction. 

Submarine X travels' 15 miles an hour and Submarine Y travels 1 - times as 
fast. How far apart are they at the end of 18 hours? 

(a) 5 ml. (b) 6 mi. (c) 67^ mi. (d) 90 mi. (e) 630 mi. 

85. A truck moves 8 feet forward with every revolution of the wheel. At 330 
revolutions per minute, what is the speed of the truck in feet per second? 

(a) 5.5 (b) 41.25 (c) 44 (d) 2,475 (e) 2,640 


86. A circular graph represents the classification of enlisted Naval personnel. 
If 225 out of each 1,000 men are apprentice seamen, how many degrees will 
represent this group? (A circle has 360°.) 

(a) 75° (b) 81° (c) 155° (d) 160° (a) 225° 


87. Boring the 60 oval holes in a gun cooler requires 3 operations per hole. 
Ten round holes can be punched in a single operation. If round holes were 
used, how many operations would be saved on a gun cooler? 

(a) 14 (b) 170 (o) 174 (d) 186 (e) 1,800 


88. A car requires 1.3 gallons of gasoline to go 20 miles at 65 miles per hour 
and 1 gallon to go the same distance at 25 miles per hour. How many 
gallons of gasoline will be saved on a trip of 50 miles by traveling at 
the slower speed? 

(a) f ( b ) 1 (o) if (d) zl (e) 2f 

4 4 o 4 


89. 


A room 10 feet v/ide and 60 feet long is divided into six compartments, each 
10 feet square. How many partitions are needed? 

(a) 5 (b) 6 (o) 7 (d) 59 (e) 60 


90. A patrol boat travels due south for 12 miles, then due east for 16 miles. 
How many miles is It from the starting point? 

(a) 10.5 (b) 14 (c) 17 (d) 18 (e) 20 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


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185 


91. Six seamen can paint 4 boats In 2 days. How many days would It take two 
seamen to paint 16 boats If they all work at the seme rate? 

(a) 102 (b) 20 (o) 21$ (d) 24 (e) 28 

3 » 

92. A reservoir is 60 feet long, 40 feet wide, and of uniform depth. How many 

cubic feet of water must be drawn off to lower the surface 9 inches? 

(a) 75 (b) 1,600 (c) 1,800 (d) 5,200 (e) 21,600 


93. An assembly process of First Aid kits requiring 300 man-hours was stream¬ 
lined to require only 25 minutes. If 5,000 kits were previously assembled 
in 300 man-hours, how many are now assembled in an hour? 

(a) el| (b) 720 (c) 2,083$ (d) 12,000 (•) 60,000 

94. Two pulleys of diameter 6 inches and 10 inches are connected by a belt. 

How many revolutions per minute must the smaller pulley muke in order 
that the larger pulley make 169 revolutions per minute? 

(a) 68.04 (bj 113.4 (c) 315 (d) 525 (e) 1,134 


95. A certain ship-building company can build a ship in 120 days. In how many 
days must a ship be built in order to increase the company*s output by 
33§# ? 

(a) 80 (b) 90 (o) 116 (d) 160 (e) 180 


96. The intensity of illumination from a given light source varies inversely as 
the square of the distance from the source. If a certain searchlight has 
an intensity of 100,000 foot-candles at 10 feet, what will be the intensity 
of illumination in foot-candles on an airplane 3,000 feet from the source? 

(a) .9 (b) 1.11 (c) 3.33 (d) 9 (e) 333.33 


97. A map 6 inches long and 4^ inches wide represents 2,500 square miles of 
country. On tho scale to which the map is drawn an inch represents how 
many miles? 

(a) 10 (b) 25 (c) 50 (d) 100 (e) 250 


98. A cardboard container with a cover measures 8x2x3 inches. How many square 
inches of cardboard will be saved by making the first two measurements equal 
if the same capacity is retained? 

(a) 0 (b) 6 (c) 12 (d) 36 (e) 48 


99. Two cubes are made of the same material. The smaller cube weighs 2 pounds, 
and the larger weighs 128 pounds. The surface area of the larger is how 
many times that of the smaller? 

(a) 4 (b) 8 (c) 16 (d) 64 (e) 84 


100. What is the largest number of blocks each measuring 3x5x7 inches that can 
be packed into a box with inside dimensions of 10x14x25 inches? 

(a) 18 (b) 30 (c) 32 (d) 33 (e) 34 


186 


RECHECK ANY ANSWERS YOU WISH IN THE REMAINING TIME 

RESTRICTED 


FORM 2 


NOTICE: 

This test is not to be shown, or the contents revealed, to unauthorized persons in or 
out of the Navy, or reproduced in whole or in part without written authorization from 
the Bureau of Nava! Personnel of the United States Navy. This test booklet must be 
surrendered with the answer sheet at the close of the test. 


UNITED STATES NAVY 
OFFICER QUALIFICATION TEST 
NAVPERS 16561 

Read this first : This test is designed to enable you to provide further evidence 
regarding your abilities. There is no passing or failing score for the test 
and no one will be disqualified because of the test score alone. Your score 
will simply be regarded as further information about you to be added to your 
application record. Work as well as you can, wasting no time. No one is expected 
to answer all of the questions correctly. As a matter of fact, you may answer 
a substantial number of items incorrectly and still secure a score that is at 
least average. 

Directions for Taking the Test 

This is form 2 of the test as indicated in the upper right hand corner of the booklet; 
so put a 2 in the space after FORM in the upper right hand corner of the separate 
answer sheet. Print your name and the other required information on the answer sheet. 
Do this now. Then read the rest of these directions. 

The test consists of three parts. The total time for all three parts is one hour. 

You may divide your time as you wish, but the following division is recommended 
as being to your advantage: 


Part I 15 minutes 

Part II 15 minutes 

Part III 25 minutes 

This schedule leaves 5 minutes to spend on any of the parts which you have not 
finished, or to check any answers about which you are not sure. Remember, you have 
one hour to read the directions carefully and to answer as many questions as you can. 

Directions and sample questions precede the questions for each part. Indicate all 
your answers on the separate answer sheet. Give only one answer to each question; 
double answers are graded as incorrect. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question or on any one part. If you are 
uncertain, mark the answer you think is most likely to be correct. 

If you have a question now or at any time during the test, raise your hand and 
someone will come to you. 

Make no marks in this test booklet. Indicate all answers on the separate answer 
sheet. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question or any one part. 

Now read the directions for Part I on the next page and start to work at once. 

As soon as you finish any one page or any one part, go right on to the next without 
waiting for further instructions. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART I 

RESTRICTED 


187 








188 


Suggested time: 
15 minutes 


PART I 

OPPOSITES 


Directions 


Each question in this part consists of a CAPITALIZED word followed by five 
other words numbered from 1 to 5. Decide which one of the five numbered words 
is most nearly opposite in meaning to the capitalized word. Indicate your 
choice by making a heavy black mark between the lines under the corresponding 
number on the separate answer sheet. 

The questions below have already been marked correctly on the Sample Answer 
Blank. Study these questions and be sure that you understand how the answers 
are indicated. 


A. HDT 

1 plain 2 heavy 5 cold 4 soft 5 clean 

B. LAUGH 

1 giggle 2 amuse 5 snort 4 grieve 5 cry 

C. LUXURY 

1 simplicity 2 delicacy 5 flourish 4 dirt 5 elegance 


Sample Answer Blank 

1 2 3 4 B 

* !i I 1 I 

1 2 3 4 S 

b is n 8 i I 

1 2 3 4 S 

c | i! r 1! I! 


Now begin working on OPPOSITES. Mark each answer in the proper space on the 
separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer to each question. Remember you are 
to choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to the CAPITALIZED word. Do 
not make any marks in this booklet. Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 

When you finish Part I, go right on to Part II. 


2 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 

RESTRICTED 










OPPOSITES 


Mark only on separate answer sheet. 

1. AUTHORIZE 

1 devaluate 2 prohibit 3 imitate 4 reprimand 5 rebel 

2. MOBILE 

1 durable 2 impassive 3 fixed 4 subdued 5 tenacious 

3. PERTINENT 

1 comparable 2 irrelevant 3 courteous 4 melancholy 5 yielding 

4. HARASS 

1 spurn 2 loiter 3 implore 4 soothe 5 repair 

5. LIABLE 

1 cautioned 2 averse 5 exempt 4 indomitable 5 unqualified 

6. INVALUABLE 

1 priceless 2 expensive 3 mercenary 4 violable 5 worthless 

7. COGNIZANT 

1 uncalled-for 2 deep-seated 3 inadequate 4 secret 5 unaware 

8. FLUX 

1 stability 2 piety 3 severity 4 elation 5 penury 

9. VERIFICATION 

1 deprivation 2 experiment 3 inquiry 4 refutation 5 repute 

10. JEOPARDIZE 

1 accommodate 2 cower 3 negotiate 4 ransom 5 shield 

11. EMIT 

1 retreat 2 rebound 3 absorb 4 atone 5 crush 

12. INITIAL 

1 absolute 2 anterior 3 extended 4 distant 5 ultimate 

13. RETRENCH 

1 revive 2 adjust 3 expand 4 display 5 reflect 

14. PRETENTIOUS 

1 realistic 2 discouraged 3 convincing 4 modest 5 reliable 

15. CAUSTIC 

1 bland 2 ample 5 jerky 4 eager 5 flexible 

16. INTACT 

1 solaced 2 elastic 3 impaired 4 permissible 5 profound 

17. FUNDAMENTAL 

1 voluminous 2 approximate 3 perplexing 4 superficial 5 quiescent 

18. DISTEND 

1 heed 2 entice 3 sustain 4 vitiate 5 constrict 

19. CORROBORATE 

1 disorganize 2 reduce 3 disregard 4 contradict 5 withdraw 

20. PERMEABLE 

1 adhesive 2 impervious 5 indulgent 4 negotiable 5 solvent 

21. VERACIOUS 

1 commendatory 2 scandalous 3 untruthful 4 negative 5 insidious 

22. EBULLIENT 

1 muddy 2 epigrammatic 3 determined 4 tranquil 5 enigmatic 

23. FACILE 

1 arduous 2 cursory 3 infamous 4 purblind 5 factitious 

24. EXTRANEOUS 

1 extrinsic 2 feasible 3 genuine 4 integral 5 tangible 

25. HACKNEYED 

1 soggy 2 reserved 3 natural 4 softened 5 original 


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189 


26. 

27. 

28. 
29. 

50. 

51. 

52. 
55. 

54. 

55. 

56. 

57. 

58. 

59. 

40. 

41. 

42. 
45. 

44. 

45. 

46. 

47. 

48. 

49. 

50. 


PROPITIOUS 

1 auspicious 2 adverse 5 controversial 4 inexperienced 5 disputatious 
PHLEGMATIC 

1 ungainly 2 ungracious 5 excitable 4 urbane 5 wholesome 
DISSEMINATE 

1 attribute 2 exhilarate 5 reassure 4 reinforce 5 suppress 
MITIGATE 

1 vindicate 2 initiate 5 aggravate 4 encourage 5 predominate 
ACTUATE 

1 defy 2 denounce 5 inhibit 4 obliterate 5 support 
VITUPERATE 

1 laud 2 constrain 5 scrutinize 4 persevere 5 purify 
SALUTARY 

1 civilian 2 detrimental 5 brusque 4 nutritious 5 valedictory 

INCONGRUOUS 

1 infinitesimal 2 enlightening 5 portentous 4 complete 5 appropriate 
EPHEMERAL 

1 enduring 2 infernal 5 immanent 4 violent 5 vulnerable 
DESULTORY 

1 apprehensive 2 methodical 5 vibrant 4 arrant 5 boisterous 
ABET 

1 substantiate 2 abhor 5 dissuade 4 err 5 abstain 
INTRANSIGENT 

1 reconcilable 2 inquisitive 5 rampant 4 sensitive 5 culpable 
INTREPID 


1 contemplative 2 staunch 5 shrewd 4 stoical 5 pusillanimous 
PERFUNCTORY 

1 enthusiastic 2 astute 5 constructive 4 erratic 5 peerless 
DUCTILE 


1 supine 2 refractory 5 pliant 4 infallible 5 indefatigable 
ANOMALOUS 

1 life-like 2 warranted 5 fantastic 4 insignificant 5 normal 
IMPROVIDENT 


1 grudging 2 frugal 5 opportune 4 reverent 5 utilitarian 
REDUNDANT 

1 exalted 2 slack 5 emollient 4 staid 5 succinct 
SYNOPTIC 

1 indicative 2 ocular 5 discursive 4 resultant 5 undeveloped 
PERSPICACIOUS 

1 devout 2 liberal 5 unimpeachable 4 supercilious 5 obtuse 

SINUOUS 

1 sudden 2 loose 5 fragile 4 straight 5 virtuous 
TRENCHANT 

1 ostensible 2 optimistic 5 unrestricted 4 polished 5 insipid 
CATEGORICAL 

1 chimerical 2 nominal 5 antithetical 4 bombastic 5 equivocal 
INCLEMENT 

1 contrite 2 conventional 5 implacable 4 lenient 5 incessant 

INDIGENOUS 

1 extant 2 wealthy 5 alien 4 fragmentary 5 straightforward 


4 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART II. 


190 


RESTRICTED 


Suggested time: 
15 minutes 


PART II 

MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION 


Directions 

This part consists of pictures about which questions are asked. Followir^ each question 
are three answers. Decide which one of the answers is correct and make a heavy black 
mark between the lines under the corresponding number on the answer sheet. 

The questions below have already been answered correctly on the Sample Answer Blank. 

Study them and be sure that you understand the problems and how the answers are indicated. 




X 

At which place should one grasp 
the handle in order to pull out 
the nail more easily? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It makes no difference. 


Y 

Which bridge is stronger? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They are equally strong. 


Sample Answer Blank 


X I Hi! 

1 1 3 

T II « if 


Now begin working on MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION. Mark each answer in the proper space on 
the separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer to each question. Do not make any 
marks in this booklet. Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 

When you finish Part II, go right on to Part III. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE 

RESTRICTED 


5 


191 









MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION 


Mark only on separate answer sheet. 

51 



In which case will more paint be required to cover 
the object? 


(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They will require the same amount. 




53 

Which diving bell would be safer at great depths? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) One would be as safe as the other. 


A B 



54 

Which bridge is more likely to break in the 
middle? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) One is just as likely to break as the 
other. 


192 


6 


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/ 


55 

Which boy can throw the ball farther? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They can throw it equally far. 


56 

Which kind of pump would you vise to inflate a 
bicycle tire? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) Either kind. 


57 

Which motorboat is approaching the dock correctly 
for landing? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) Both are approaching correctly. 


A 9 58 

The sound of the airplane will appear to come 
from which point? 

(1) A 

(2) B 
(5) C 







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193 














































59 


r 1 

A 




Which way should the men tip the table in order to 
get it into the next room? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) One way is as good as the other. 



60 

In which direction is the object more likely to 
roll? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It is as likely to roll in one direction 
as in the other. 



61 

At which point is the water moving more rapidly? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) The speed is the same at both points. 



194 


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65 


A 


B 



Alcohol 






Water 


Which thermometer will indicate the higher tempera¬ 
ture? 

( 1 ) * 

(2) B 

(3) They will show the same temperature. 



A 



64 

On which screen door is the arrangement of hinges 
better? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5)-They are equally good. 



65 

Which tire should be placed on the wheel that 
runs the speedometer in order to show higher 
speeds? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It is not possible to tell. 



66 

Which man has to pull harder to hold the weight 
without moving it? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They will have to pull equally hard. 


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9 


195 


























































67 



Which car is more likely to move? 

(1) A. 

(2) B 

(5) They are equally likely to move. 





69 

To which hook should the eyebolt be attached 
to make it easier for the man to pull the car? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It makes no difference. 



70 

At which point was the stone traveling faster 
along its path? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) The speed was the same at both points. 









10 


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196 


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71 


B 



With which windlass could a man lift the heavier 
weight? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(!) There is no difference. 




72 

In which direction is the wind blowing? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) There is no wind. 


73 

Which jar of water will empty in the shorter 
time? 


U) A 
(2) B 

(!) They will empty in the same time. 


74 

If A is to be raised either by pulling himself 
up or by having B pull him, who would have to 
pull the rope harder? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They will have to pull equally hard. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


11 



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197 














































75 




Which light will be brighter? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They will be equally bright. 



76 

Which cylinder will roll higher up the incline 
at the right? (Disregard friction.) 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They will roll equally high. 




77 

Which cert is more likely to tip forward when 
pulled by the rope? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They are equally likely to tip. 





78 

In which direction will shaft X turn, if the belt 
is moving in the direction shown at Y? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) Neither; the belt will slip. 






12 


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198 


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79 




What size should the lens opening be in order-to 
get a clear picture of the whole group? 

(1) Large. 

(2) Medium. 

(5) Small. 



80 

Which magnet will pick up more tacks? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They will each pick up about the same 
number. 


13 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART III 

RESTRICTED 


199 














Suggested times 
25 minutes 


PART III 

ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


Directions 

This part consists of arithmetic problems. Following each problem are 
fire answers, lettered from (a) to (e); one of these answers is correct. 
Solve each problem and indicate your answer by a heavy black mark in the 
appropriate space on the answer sheet. 

Use the back of the separate answer sheet for figuring. 

The answers to the problems below have already been marked on the Sample 
Answer Blank. Solve these problems for yourself and be sure that you 
agree. 


A. If three pencils cost 5 cents, how many pencils can be bought for 
15 cents? 

(a) 5 (b) 7 (c) 9 (d) 10 (e) 15 


B. Three-fifths of the 240 uniforms for a company were delivered. How 
many uniforms were there yet to come? 

(a) 48 (b) 60 (c) 90 (d) 96 (e) 144 


Sample Answer Blan k 


A i! 

* 

b !i 



b o 

■' fi 


d • 

Si Si 

i f 


Now begin working on ARITHMETICAL REASONING. Mark each answer in the proper 
space on the separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer to each problem. 

Do not make any marks in this booklet. Use the back of the separate answer 
sheet for figuring. Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 


200 


14 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE 

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ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


Mark only on separate answer sheet. Use back of the answer fiheet for figuring. 

81. In the United States Air Force a squadron consists of 12 to 15 planes. A group consists 

of 2 to 4 squadrons. What is the minimum number of planes that can make up a group? 

(a) 24 (b) 27 (c) 56 (d) 41 (e) 60 

82. If 50* of the bombers produced in the United States are transferred to the Allies and 

if the Allies actually receive 90* of the bombers transferred to them, what percentage 
of the bombers produced in the United States are actually received by the Allies? 

(a) 3* (b) 10* (c) 27* (d) 60* (e) 120* 


85. Synthetic rubber costs 40 cents a pound whereas plantation rubber costs 15 cents a pound. 
The Hospital Corps vises 4,000 pounds a month in adhesive tape. How much do they save 
in a month on the rubber alone by using plantation rubber? 

(a) |600 (b) |1,000 (c) $15,000 (d) $60,000 (e) $100,000 


84. Two submarines start from the same base and travel in the same direction. Submarine X 
travels 15 miles an hour and Submarine I travels 1— times as fast. How many miles apart 
are they at the end of 18 hours? 

(a) 5 (b) 6 (c) 67| (d) 90 (e) 630 

85. There are 52 equally spaced directional points on a compass. How many degrees are there 
between two adjacent points? (Circles 360 # .) 

(a) «’ (c) “n* (d) 11 i* (e) 11 if* 

86. A mixture contains by weight 1 part of cement, 5 parts of sand, and 5 parts of gravel. 
How many tons of gravel are needed for 27 tons of this mixture? 

(a)^ (b) 51 (c) 9 (d) 15 (e) 481 

87. A truck moves 8 feet forward with every revolution of the wheel. At 350 revolutions 
per minute, what is the speed of the truck in feet per second? 

(a) 5.5 (b) 41.25 (c) 44 (d) 2,475 (e) 2,640 


88. A car requires 1.5 gallons of gasoline to go 20 miles at 65 miles per hour and 1 gallon 
to go the same distance at 25 miles per hour. How many gallons of gasoline will be 
saved on a trip of 50 miles by traveling at the slower speed? 

(a) | (b) 1 (c) if (d) 2-| (e) 2$ 


89. If ■§ of a crop is harvested the first day, how many more days will it take to harvest 
5 

the remainder of the crop? 


(a)| 


(b) 


1 * 


(o) li 


(d) li 


(e) 2 


90. A patrol boat travels due south for 12 miles, then due east for 16 miles. How many 
miles is it from the starting point? 

(a) 10.5 (b) 14 (c) 17 (d) 18 (e) 20 


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15 


201 


91. The average cost of driving a new car for the firBt 5,000 miles is 7 cents per mile. 

For the first 5,000 miles the average is 8 cents. What is the average cost per mile for 
the remaining 2,000 miles? 


(a) sjtf 


(b) 6/ 


(c) n 


(a) 


(e) 25/ 


92. A reservoir is 60 feet long, 40 feet wide, and of uniform depth, 
of water must be drawn off to lower the surface 9 inches? 

(a) 75 (b) 1,600 (c) 1,800 (d) 5,200 


How many cubic feet 
(e) 21,600 


95. An assembly process of First Aid kits requiring 500 man-hours was streamlined to require 
only 25 minutes. If 5,000 kits were previously assembled in 500 man-hours, how many are 
now assembled in an hour? 

(a) 6 -j! (b) 720 (c) 2,085^ (d) 12,000 (e) 60,000 


94. Two pulleys having diameters of 5 inches and 5 inches are connected by a belt. How 
many revolutions per minute must the larger pulley make in order that the smaller make 
240 revolutions per minute? (Circumference =: 2ffr.) 

(a) 16 (b) 120 (c) 144 (d) 400 (e) 480 


95. A certain trip requires 40 minutes at 45 miles per hour. How many minutes would the 
same trip take at 50 miles per hour? 

(a) 26 § (b) 55 \ (c) 55^ (d) 55 (e) 60 

96. A certain ship-building company can build a ship in 120 days. In how many days must 
a ship be built in order to increase the company's output by 55— % ? 

(a) 80 (b) 90 (c) 116 (d) 160 (e) 180 


97. The daily edition of a newspaper can be printed in 60 minutes by one press and in 

90 minutes by another. In how many minutes could the edition be printed if both presses 
were running? 

(a) 50 (b) 56 (c) 57 | (d) 75 (e) 150 


98. A map 6 inches long and 4^-inches wide represents 2,500 square miles of country. On 
the scale to which the map is drawn an inch represents how many miles? 

(a) 10 (b) 25 (c) 50 (d) 100 (e) 250 

99. The intensity of illumination from a given light source varies inversely as the square 
of the distance from the source. If a certain searchlight has an intensity of 
100,000 foot-candles at 10 feet, what will be the intensity of illumination in 
foot-candles on an airplane 5,000 feet from the source? 

(a) .9 (b) 1.11 (c) 5.55 (d) 9 (e) 555.55 


100. Two cubes are made of the same material. The smaller cube weighs 2 pounds, and the 

larger weighs 128 pounds. The surface area of the larger is how many times that of the 
smaller? 

(a) 4 (b) 8 (c) 16 (d) 64 (e) 84 


202 


16 


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I 


FORM ! 


NOTICE: 

This test is not to be shown, or the contents revealed, to unauthorized persons in or 
out of the Navy, or reproduced in whole or in part without written authorization from 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel of the United States Navy. This test booklet must be 
surrendered with the answer sheet at the close of the ttsc. 


UNITED STATES NAVY 
OFFICER QUALIFICATION TEST 
NAVPERS 16563 

Read this first : This test is designed to enable you to provide further evidence 
regarding your abilities. There is no passing or failing score for the test 
and no one will be disqualified because of the test score alone. Your score 
will simply be regarded as further information about you to be added to your 
application record. Work as well as you can, wasting no time. No one is expected 
to answer all of the questions correctly. As a matter of fact, you may answer 
a substantial number of items incorrectly and still secure a score that is at 
least average. 


Directions for Taking the Test 

This is form 5 of the test as indicated in the upper right hand corner of the booklet; 
so put a 3 in the space after FORM in the upper right hand corner cf the separate 
answer sheet. Print your name and, the other required information on the answer sheet. 
Do this now. Then read the rest of these directions. 

The test consists of three parts. The total time for all three parts is one hour. 

You may divide your time as you wish, but the following division is recommended 
as being to your advantage: 


Part I 15 minutes 

Part II 15 minutes 

Part III 25 minutes 

This schedule leaves 5 minutes to spend on any of the parts which you have not 
finished, or to check any answers about which you are not sure. Remember, you have 
one hour to read the directions carefully and to answer as many questions as you can. 

Directions and sample questions precede the questions for each part. Indicate all 
your answers on the separate answer sheet. Give only one answer to each question; 
double answers are graded as incorrect. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question or on any one part. If you aic 
uncertain, mark the answer you think is most likely to be correct. 

If you have a question now or at any time during the test, raise your hand and 
someone will come to you. 

Make no marks in this test booklet. Indicate all answers on the separate answer 
sheet. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question or any one part. 

Now read the directions for Part I on the next page and start to work at once. 

As soon as you finish any one page or any one part, go right on to the next without 
waiting for further instructions. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART I 

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203 








Suggested time: 
15 minutes 


PART I 


OPPOSITES 


Directions 


Each question in this part consists of a CAPITALIZED word followed by five 
other words numbered from 1 to 5. Decide which one of the five numbered words 
is most nearly opposite in meaning to the capitalized word. Indicate your 
choice by making a heavy black mark between the lines under the corresponding 
number on the separate answer sheet. 

The questions below have already been marked correctly on the Sample Answer 
Blank. Study these questions and be sure that you understand how the answers 
are indicated. 


A. HOT 

1 plain 2 heavy 5 cold 4 soft 5 clean 

B. LAUGH 

1 giggle 2 amuse 5 snort 4 grieve 5 cry 

C. LUXURY 

1 simplicity 2 delicacy 5 flourish 4 dirt 5 elegance 


Sample Answer Blank 

1 X 3 4 S 

A !M! | il H 

i 2 a 4 s 

b i! !! B ii I 

» a 3 4 % 

C | If I! I; 


Now begin working on OPPOSITES. Mark each answer in the proper space on the 
separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer to each question. Remember you are 
to choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to the CAPITALIZED word. Do 
not make any marks in this booklet. Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 

When you finish Part I, go right on to Part II. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


204 


RESTRICTED 












\ 


OPPOSITES 

Hark only on separate answer sheet 




1. ECONOMICAL 

1 plentiful 2 selfish 3 cheap 4 scarce 5 wasteful 

2. DISTINCT 

1 infirm 2 indivisible 5 vague 4 complex 5 erroneous 

3. ZEALOUS 

1 dauntless 2 fanatical 5 humane 4 listless 5 unpatriotic 

4. FEASIBLE 

1 rigid 2 impracticable 5 Insufficient 4 clandestine 5 inaccessible 

5. PROLONG 


1 forestall 2 curtail 5 disdain 

4 pause 

5 vanish 

6. CONCUR 

1 violate 

2 criticize 3 dissent 

4 vex 

5 persist 

7. INVALIDATE 

1 flatter 

2 emulate 3 entrust 4 

claim 

5 confirm 

8. CONTINGENT 

1 urgent 

2 antiquated 3 essential 

4 independent 5 continual 

9. ACTUAL 

1 unknown 

2 foreign 5 nysterious 

4 imaginary 5 perceptible- 

10. COPIOUS 

1 internal 

2 intended 3 clever 4 scanty 

5 explanatory 


11. SELECTIVE 

1 indiscriminate 2 careless 5 unbiased 4 deficient 5 undistinguished 

12. DILATE 

1 muffle 2 refract 3 complicate 4 contract 5 animate 
j• ACRID 

1 astringent 2 mild 3 refined 4 sodden 5 fluffy 

14. DYNAMIC 

1 defensive 2 chaotic 3 fruitless 4 apathetic 5 onerous 

15. INDUBITABLE. 

1 trifling m 2 questionable 5 revocable 4 theoretical 5 indefensible 

16. SOMNOLENT 

1 imperious 2 alert 3 critical 4 scurrilous 5 considerate 

17. MANDATORY 

1 unpretentious 2 derogatory 5 discretionary 4 derisive 5 palatable 

18. REQUISITE 

1 dispensable 2 imperative 3 perquisite 4 prerequisite 5 unrequited 

19. REPROOF 

1 affection 2 laxity 5 sympathy 4 praise 5 suspicion 

20. WARY 

1 coy 2 stalwart 5 rash 4 lusty 5 shrill 

21. RECALCITRANCE 

1 cooperation 2 resonance 5 restoration 4 relaxation 5 suavity 

22. DIMINUTION 

1 exhibition 2 anticipation 5 augmentation 4 elevation 5 transmutation 
25. DISCREPANT 

1 fortunate 2 adept 5 consistent 4 obvious 5 intrinsic 

24. APPRECIABLE 

1 concise 2 deterrent 5 discordant 4 negligible 5 ungrateful 

25. ARBITRARY 

1 absurd 2 incompetent 5 productive 4 reasoned 5 unreasoned 

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205 


2 satisfaction 5 honor 4 order 5 notoriety 


26. IGNOMINY 

1 elegance 

27. DELETERIOUS 

1 humorous 2 beneficial 3 harmonious 4 aristocratic 5 submissive 

28. EXPEDITIOUS 

1 dilatory 2 elusive 5 habitual 4 latent 5 scrupulous 

29. EFFETE 

1 judicious 2 robust 3 placable 4 paltry 5 wonted 

30. ASCERTAIN 

1 conjecture 2 demur 3 discern 4 dissuade 5 underestimate 
51. TRUCULENT 

1 overbearing 2 amiable 5 short-sighted 4 reticent 5 niggardly 

32. ESTIMABLE 

1 contemptible 2 unmistakable 3 inexplicable 4 fabulous 5 meager 

33. VOLUPTUOUS 

1 diffident 2 ascetic 3 unvaried 4 rapacious 5 fastidious 

34. PROSPECTIVE 

1 evasive 2 impending 3 perspective 4 detected 5 realized 

35. INTELLIGIBLE 

1 simulated 2 inscrutable 3 indescribable 4 ingenuous 5 innocuous 

36. FATUOUS 

1 embarrassed 2 groveling 3 astute 4 matchless 5 relentless 

37. OBVIATE 

1 necessitate 2 dissimulate 3 vilify 4 diversify 5 domineer 

38. ABRIDGE 

1 amend 2 amplify 3 demolish 4 improve 5 dissociate 

39. SALIENT 

1 implausible 2 explicit 3 paradoxical 4 imperceptible 5 sluggish 

40. PIQUANT 

1 precise 2 vapid 3 anomalous 4 sagacious 5 munificent 

41. EXPEDIENT 

1 admissible 2 devious 3 leisurely 4 gradual 5 inadvisable 

42. LIMPID 

1 inflated 2 sonbrous 5 vigorous 4 turbid 5 pellucid 

43. ATTENUATE 

1 materialize 2 resound 5 intensify 4 impregnate 5 bupy 

44. GERMANE 

1 inapplicable 2 illogical 3 figurative 4 salubrious 5 involved 

45. GLIB 

1 sedate 2 tactful 5 halting 4 sound 5 rude 

46. ENERVATE 

1 intimidate 2 energize 5 horrify 4 irgratiate 5 satiate 

47. EXACERBATE 

1 reverberate 2 assuage 5 temporize 4 effervesce 5 coordinate 

48. PALPABLE 

1 adamant 2 noisome 5 blatant 4 defunct 5 incorporeal 

49. PENCHANT 

1 displeasure 2 antipatljy 3 unconcern 4 exuberance 5 ineptitude 

50. EFFULGENT 

1 tenebrous 2 incarnate 5 gelatinous 4 adulterated 5 osseous 


206 


4 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO PART II 

RESTRICTED 



Suggested times 
15 minutes 


PART II 

MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION 


Directions 

This part consists of pictures about which questions are asked. Following each question 
are three answers. Decide which one of the answers is correct and make a heavy black 
mark between the lines under the corresponding number on the answer sheet. 

The questions below have already been answered correctly on the Sample Answer Blank. 

Study them and be sure that you understand the problems and how the answers are indicated. 



X 

At which place should one grasp 
the handle in order to pull out 
the nail more easily? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It makes no difference. 


Y 

Which bridge is stronger? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(S) They are equally strong. 


Sample Answer Blank 


X | i I! 

1 » 3 

Y B I I! 


Now begin working on MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION. Mark each answer in the proper space on 
the separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer to each question. Do not make any 
marks in this booklet. Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 

When you finish Part II, go right on to Part III. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 

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5 


207 









208 


MECHANICAL COMPREHENSION 


Mark only on separate answer sheet. 


51 



Which scaffold is more likely to break? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They are equally likely to break. 



52 

Which chisel is better for cutting very hard 
material? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) One is as good as the other. 



53 

Which man is more likely to fell if he pushes 
hard on the drill? 


(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally likely to fall. 




54 

Which bridge is stroller? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally strong. 


6 


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55 





Which way should the tiller be pushed in order 
to approach the dock? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) Either way is correct. 




57 

In which direction will the belt at the right 
move? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) Neither; the driving belt will slip. 



58 

In which direction is the object more likely to 
roll? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It is as likely to roll in one direction 
as in the other. 


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7 


209 












59 



Which peavey is correctly placed for rolling 
the log to the right? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) Both are correctly placed. 




61 

With which tool would it be easier to drill 
hard wood? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) There is no difference. 




62 

With which handle can one pull the heavier 
weight out of the well? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It makes no difference. 


8 


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210 


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Against which window does the water press harder? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It presses equally hard against both. 



64 

Which weight puts more strain on the posts? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) There is no difference. 



65 

Which point -will move faster? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They will move at the same speed. 


66 

Which position gives the better lighting for 
getting something out of the eye? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally good. 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT FACE. 

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9 


211 


























68 

If lens X brills the sun's rays to a focus on 
the top of the table, in what direction should 
the other lens be moved so that it will do the 
same? 


(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It should not be moved at all. 




69 

The train whistle will sound higher in pitch 
if a man is in which position? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It will have the same pitch in either 
position. 



70 

In which tube will the liquid rise? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It will rise in both tubes. 


212 


10 


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71 

The weight will be easier to lift if the hook is 
attached to which ring? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) It will be equally easy to lift either 
way. 


72 

When the log is lifted by the rope, which end 
will hang down? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) Neither; the log will remain almost 
horizontal. 



75 

Which bell will ring more loudly? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) One will ring as loudly as the other. 


74 

Which object will roll to the bottom more 
quickly? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They will reach it at the same time. 


A 




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11 


213 




















































75 



At which point on the dam is the water pressure 
greater? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) It is the same at both points. 


A 


B 



76 

Which car is more likely to move? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(3) They are equally likely to move. 



A B 



78 

In which direction will shaft X turn? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) Neither; the belt will slip. 


12 


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214 


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79 

Will the solid cylinder A or the hollow cylinder £ 
roll higher up the incline at the right? (Disregard 
friction.) 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) They will roll equally high. 


80 

In which case is the pressure on the man*6 head 
greater? 

(1) A 

(2) B 

(5) The pressure is exactly the same in 
both cases* 



DO NOT STOP. CO OS TO PART III. 


13 


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215 









Suggested time: 
25 minutes 


PART III 


ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


Directions 


This part consists of arithmetic problems. Following each problem are 
five answers, lettered from (a) to (e)j one of these answers is correct. 
Solve each problem and indicate your answer by a heavy black mark in the 
appropriate space on the answer sheet. 

Use the back of the separate answer sheet for figuring. 

The answers to the problems below have already been marked on the Sample 
Answer Blank. Solve these problems for yourself and be sure that you 
agree. 


A. If three pencils cost 5 cents, how many pencils can be bought for 
15 cents? 

(a) 5 (b) 7 (c) 9 (d) 10 (e) 15 

B. Three-fifths of the 240 uniforms for a company were delivered. How 
many uniforms were there yet to come? 

(a) 48 (b) 60 (c) 90 (d) 96 (e) 144 


Sample Answer Blank 


ft 

A si 

ft 

B!! 


d e 


Now begin working on ARITHMETICAL REASONING. Mark each answer In the proper 
space on the separate answer sheet. Mark only ONE answer to each problem. 

Do not make any marks in this booklet. Use the back of the separate answer 
sheet for figuring. Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 


14 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


216 


RESTRICTED 









ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


Mark only on separate answer sheet. Use back of the answer sheet for figuring. 

81. If the passenger rate for air transportation is reduced from 5 cents a mile to 5 cents 
a mile, how many dollars will be saved on a 1,000 mile trip? 

(a) $20 (b) $50 (c) $40 (d) $80 (e) $200 


82. The distance between Boston and Halifax is 450 miles. How many inches would represent 
this distance on a map whose scale is 50 miles to inch? 

(a) 5 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 9 (e) 27 


85. In estimatir^ the student-capacity of a class room, 18 square feet of floor space are 
allowed per student. How many students can be accommodated in a room 56 feet long and 
27 feet wide? 

(a) 5” (b) 24 (c) 45 (d) 54 (e) 17,496 


84. A man averages 90 on three arithmetic tests. His scores on the first and second tests 
were 85 and 94. What was his score on the third test? 

(a) 89 (b) 89^ (c) 89§ (d) 90^ (e) 91 

85. In general an invading force should be 505& larger than the defending force to achieve 
minimum superiority. If the Allies attempt an invasion of Nazi territory, how many 
divisions should the Allies have to achieve minimum superiority over 50 Nazi divisions? 

(a) 20 (b) 45 (c) 50 (d) 60 (e) 75 


86. A circular graph represents the classification of enlisted Naval personnel. If 225 
out of each 1,000 men are apprentice seamen, how many degrees will represent this 
group? (Circle = 560°.) 

(a) 75° (b) 81° (c) 155* (d) 160° (e) 225° 


87. A room 10 feet wide and 60 feet long is divided into siix square 
10 feet on a side. How many partitions are needed? 

(a) 5 (b) 6 (c) 7 (d) 59 


compartments, each 
(e) 60 


88. The approximate weight (in pounds) of a shell is one-half the cube of the diameter 
(in inches) of the gun. What is the approximate weight in pounds of a shell used in 
a gun 4 inches in diameter? 

(a) 2 (b) 6 (c) 8 (d) 16 (e) 52 


89. Step A in manufacturing a certain product can be done by one person at the rate of 
25 units every hour. Step B can be done by one person at the rate of 45 units every 

2 hour8. How many workers will be required at step A to keep 10 workers busy at step B? 

(«) 9 (b) g| (c) n (a) n-1 (.) 18 

90. A boat has a speed of 12 miles per hour in still water. How many hours would it take 
to go 12 miles down stream when the current is 4 miles per hour? 

(a) | (b) | (c) 1-| (d) if (e) S 


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15 


217 


91. Six seamen can paint 4 boats in 2 days. How many days would it take two seamen to 
paint 16 boats if they all work at the same rate? 

(a) 101 (b) 20 (c) 21(d) 24 (e) 28 

92. Two pulleys of diameter 6 inches and 10 inches are connected by a belt. How many revo¬ 
lutions per minute must the smaller pulley make in order that the larger pulley make 
189 revolutions per minute? 

(a) 68.04 (b) 113.4 (c) 515 (d) 525 (o') 1,154 


93. A patrol boat, maintaining a constant speed, went due east for an hour and then due 
north for one hour and twenty minutes, if it then steered a straight return to its 
base, how many hours was the return trip? 

(a)YT (>>)(O^f- (d) if (e) 2j 

94. In 1942 the railroads carried more freight than they carried in 1941 but used only 
■j as many cars. The average load per car in 1942 was how many times as great as that 
for 1941? 

(a) | (b) | (c) f (d) 1 (e) 2 

95. Because of the additional power furnished by a new high-octane gasoline, bombers will 
be able to increase their bomb loads 5 tons for every 10 tons of bombs now carried. 

At this rate, how many tons of bombs will a Flying Fortress be able to carry if it can 
now carry 3 tons of bombs? 

(a) .9 (b) 5.3 (c) 5.9 (d) 6.55 (e) 10 

96. If an American dollar is worth $1.10 in Canadian money, $100.00 in Canadian money is 
worth how much in American money (to the nearest cent)? 

(a) $90.00 (b) $90.91 (c) $99.90 (d) $101.00 (e) $110.00 

97. A bin 12 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 8 feet high is filled with grain. How many feet 

must the surface be lowered if 560 bushels are to be removed? (.8 bu.= 1 cu. ft.) 

(a) 2§ (b) 5 (c) 5| (d) 4* (e) «| 

98. A bomber can be assembled in 20 days. If the output is to be increased 25%, in how 
many days must a bomber be assembled? 

(a) 15 (b) 16 (c) 18 (d) 25 (e) 26| 

99. Two cubes are to be made of the same material and so constructed that the surface of 
the larger is 56 times that of the smaller. If the smaller weighs 3 pounds, how many 
pounds does the larger weigh? 

(a) 12 (b) 18 (c) 108 (d) 216 (e) 648 

100. If 5,000 workers produce 75 pounds of drugs per day, what percentage of the total output 
is produced by one worker? 

(a) .015* (b) .02* (c) .67* (d) 1.5* (e) 2* 


16 RECHECK ANY ANSWERS YOU WISH IN THE REMAINING TIME. 


218 


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PERSONAL INVENTORY, LONS FORM 


Format B 


DO NOT MARK ON THIS BOOKLET 


In this questionnaire you are to give information which 
will help others understand you. You are to indioate 
certain things about your job preferences, interests, etc. 

In each question you will always have two answers to 
choose between — the one on the left side of the page, 
and the one on the right. Choose the answer which fits 
you best. Even if neither answer fits you very well, 
you must choose the one that fits you better than the 
other. Mark your choice on the Answer Sheet, and not 
on the test booklet. 

The examiner will show you how to fit the Answer Sheet 
along side the booklet so that the number of the question 
you are working on is right next to the same number on 
the Answer Sheet. Simply indioate your answer by fill¬ 
ing in the proper space on the answer sheet. If for a 
given question you choose the answer on the left, then 
fill in the left-hand space, or if you choose the answer 
on the right, fill in the right-hand space on the Answer 
Sheet. Do this by making a heavy mark which completely 
fills the space between the two dotted lines. If you 
change an answer, be sure to erase completely. 

Remember, you must always choose one answer for each ques¬ 
tion, but never both. Be sure not to skip any questions. 


Prepared by Brown University 
Project N-113 
Applied Psychology Panel 
National Defense Research Committee 


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219 






L 


R 


1 I prefer a job that challenges my ability I prefer a job I can do without any difficulty 1 

2 I like to take a chance I like to think things through before I do them 2 

3 I’ve "got guts" I can be depended on 3 

4 I like to have people do things my way I like to have people figure things out for me 4 

5 The few jobs I’ve had I’ve been very much I’ve worked at all kinds of things 5 

interested in 

6 I haven't spent much time on a farm Most of my life has been spent on a farm 6 

rj I usually plan things ahead and then keep I find that things will usually work them- 7 

plugging away selves out 

8 I prefer working my way up in one job When I change jobs I like to go to another town 8 

9 I got my first job near my home town Yes .....No 9 

I left jobs because I didn’t have to 

10 work Yes .No 10 

11 School didn’t bother me any more than the I left sohool because I had enough of it 11 

next guy 

12 In school the other boys went their way I was happiest when I was with the gang 12 

and I went mine 

13 In civilian life I would rather be a In civilian life I would rather be a florist 13 

mechanic 

14 I like offioe work I like heavier work 14 

15 I like working by myself I like working with others 15 

Since leaving sohool I’ve averaged less 

than one job a year (or I haven’t been Since leaving school I have averaged more 

16 out of school a year) than one job a year 16 

17 I'd rather work than take it easy Only a good job is worth keeping 17 

18 I prefer interesting work I prefer a good boss 18 

19 I could work better if I oould get more The average amount of sleep is enough for me 19 

sleep 

20 My employers were more than fair in their I think I was a better worker than my 20 

opinions of me employers thought 

I have been out of a job for three months 
or more in the last five years (or since 

21 leaving sohool) Yes ...No 21 

22 I take life easy I tend to worry 22 

23 Being bossed around gripes me A fellow needs a pretty firm boss 23 

24 People will step all over you if you Most people will give you a break 24 

aren’t careful 

25 Most of my friends are luckier than I am I have my share of lucky breaks 25 


220 


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26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

46 

47 

48 

49 

50 


L 


R 


I wish I didn’t have the blues so often 

I miss the comforts I used to have 

I am somewhat disappointed in my family 

I make friends less easily than the 
average fellow 

I left sohool because I preferred working 
to studying Yes 

I seek excitement 

When I’m excited or upset I feel sweaty 

Once I’ve made a decision I figure "That’s 
that," and forget it 

If I go drinking I can get it out of my 
system in an evening 

When I get excited I find it hard to talk 
straight 

After exertion I feel hungry 

I pay people back 

I’m very careful to take medicine when¬ 
ever I need it 


I wish I could be more serious about things 26 

I miss my fViends 27 

I am proud of my family 28 

I make friends more easily than the average 29 
fellow 

.No 30 

I avoid excitement 31 

When I’m excited or upset I don’t show it much 32 

Often after I make a decision I wonder if I’ve 33 
done the right thing 

Once I’ve started drinking I enjoy going on a 
real "bat" and getting it out of my system 34 

When I get excited I talk better than I 35 

usually do 

After exertion I feel dizzy 36 


I let people get away with things 


37 


Most people aren’t as sick as they think they 38 
are 


I like most any kind of food 

I've got a steady girl or I’m married 

I get embarrassed easily 

I think I might like to watch a surgical 
operation sometime 

I like to listen to the radio 

I want to be different from my dad 

I usually need a drink to get along in a 
social situation Yes 

The boys know better than to trifle with 
me 

I have more headaches than the average 
person Yes 

I like to stay put 

I feel nauseated more after eating 

I usually like to go to bed 


I have a poor appetite 

I haven’t settled down to one girl yet 

I seldom get embarrassed 

The sight of blood upsets me 

I prefer a bang-up party 

I admire my dad's (or guardian’s) way of 
doing things 


I am careful not to get in trouble with the 
boys 


39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

No 45 
46 


I’ve gone "on the bum" 

I feel nauseated more after being excited 
Sometimes I dread going to bed 


No 47 

48 

49 

50 


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221 





L 


R 


51 When excited I feel weak 

52 I sometimes faint for no good reason Yes 

53 Being up in high places never bothers me 

54 I can’t think straight when I’m mad 

55 I’d like a chance to think without being 

disturbed 

Drinking alone is usually a waste of good 

56 liquor Yes 

g 7 I think I could have done better in school 
if I hadn’t changed schools so often 

58 I drink now and then 

I sometimes drink because it helps me to 

59 forget Yes 


I can easily handle a pint of hard liquor 

60 without getting dead drunk Yes 

61 I wish I wouldn’t feel so tired 

62 I wish I had more responsibility 


63 I wish I weren’t so nervous 

64 I wish people would stop trying to get 

my goat 

I wish I could get myself to take more 

65 chanoes 

66 I wish I could have more excitement 

67 I wish I weren’t so definite in my 

opinions 

68 I wish I weren’t so different from other 

people 

69 I wish I didn’t have so many aches and 

pains 

70 I wish my feelings weren’t so easily hurt 

71 I would like to be a baseball player 

72 I would rather be an auto racer 

73 I wish I wouldn’t have so many ups and 

downs 

74 I've always been somewhat uneasy 

75 Somehow I never could find enough to do 

in my free time 


222 


When excited I feel stronger 

.No 

I feel uncomfortable about being in high 
places 

I think better when I’m mad 
I prefer being with the boys 

.No 

I think I could have done better in school if 
I had studied more 

I’m proud to say I’ve never touched a drop 

.No 

.No 

I wish I could have a more responsible job 
I wish I had more self-confidence 

I wish I wouldn’t keep putting things off 

I wish I weren’t so affected by what people 
say 

I wish worrying wouldn’t make me sick to my 
stomach 

I wish I weren’t bothered by bad dreams 

I wish people wouldn’t talk me into doing 
things 

I wish I weren’t so hasty 

I wish I wouldn’t keep changing my mind 

I wish I had more time to spend with my 
friends 

I would like to be an artist 
I would rather be a poet 
I wish I could make iqyself talk more 
Nothing ever bothers me 
My free time always seemed to be filled 
Page 3 


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51 

52 

53 

54 

55 


56 

57 

58 


59 


60 

61 

62 


63 

64 


65 

66 

67 

68 

69 

70 

71 

72 

73 

74 

75 






76 

77 

78 

79 

80 

81 

82 

83 

84 

85 

86 

87 

88 

89 

90 

91 

92 

93 

94 

95 

96 

97 

98 

99 

100 


L R 

I think being afraid is worse I think lying is worse 76 

I think cops usually do as much ham 

as good Yes No 77 

I sometimes get confused without any 

apparent reason Yes No 78 

I am reckless I am calm 79 

You have to worry more about heart trouble 

than most people think Yes No 80 

I wish people would mind their own I wish I could make myself talk more 81 

business more 

I am more nervous I am more easy going 82 

I am more cocky I am more quiet 83 

I wish I could have more responsibility I wish I wouldn’t worry so much 84 

As a kid I sometimes ran away from home I liked to stay around home too much when I 85 

was a kid 

As a boy I usually went to my friends’ As a boy I usually brought my friends to my 86 

houses to play house to play 

In school things came easy to me In school I had to work for what I got 87 

In school I had a pretty good idea of A lot of things taught in sohool seemed like 

what I wanted a waste of time 88 

As a child I was often punished when I When I was a child I deserved whatever 89 

didn’t deserve it punishment I got 

My family is somewhat disappointed in me My family is fairly pleased with me 90 

As a boy I had my share of cuts and I had my share of dizzy spells as a boy 91 

bruises 

As a kid I played with the older boys As a kid I played with the younger boys 92 

I didn't let anybody in school put any- In school the boys were usually square with 93 

thing over on me me 

As a child I had nightmares Yes No 94 

In school I played hookey more than the In school I played hookey less than the 95 

average fellow average fellow 

I was a sickly child I was an active child 96 

I didn’t waste my time hanging around I spent quite a bit of time in school 97 

after school activities 

I have never had a head injury I have had a head injury 98 

In school I often got in trouble with In school I was a little afraid of ray 99 

my teachers teachers 

In school I liked to be by myself In school I preferred to be with a gang 100 


Page 4 

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223 






L R 

I left school because I needed the 

101 money Yes No 101 

I stopped school before I got to high 

102 school Yes No 102 

103 I graduated from high school Yes No 103 

I got my first steady job (or entered 

the armed services) within 4 months 

104 after leaving school Yes No 104 

105 I repeated a grade in school Yes ..• • • •...No 106 

106 I have felt bad more from staying up I have felt bad more from riding cars, 106 

late at night trains, or busses 

My heart sometimes speeds up for no 

107 reason at all Yes No 107 

I've had my share of backaches, headaches, 

108 and stomach aches Yes No 108 

109 Being in a warm room makes me drowsy Being in a warm room makes me dizzy 109 

110 I have never gone to a doctor for head- I have occasionally gone to a doctor for 110 

aches or dizzy spells headaches or dizzy spells 

111 I have been annoyed more by sore throat I have been annoyed more by constipation 111 

and loose bowels 

112 I have felt bad more often from colds I have felt bad more often from nausea 112 

113 I have sometimes wet the bed (urinated) I have never wet the bed since the age 113 

since the age of 10 of 10 

If 1 were a research doctor, I would If I were a research doctor, I would rather 

114 rather find a cure for cancer find a cure for epilepsy 114 

115 I had an unhappy childhood My childhood was happy 116 

11C My own parents brought me up Yes ....No 116 

117 My family went its own way pretty much My family took part in a lot of things 117 

around town 

118 Ify parents axe separated Yes ...No 118 

119 I was a sensitive kid I was a happy-go-lucky kid 119 

My parents were away from home a good deal 

120 when I was a boy Yes «... .....No 120 

121 I've had my share of siokness I've had my share of happiness 121 

^22 Before entering the armed forces I went Before entering the armed forces I never went 

to a doctor or a hospital for my nerves to a doctor or a hospital for my nerves 

123 I have felt bad more from head cold I have felt bad more from dizziness 123 


224 


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124 


125 

126 

127 

128 

129 

130 

131 

132 

133 

134 

135 

136 

137 

138 

139 

140 

141 

142 

143 

144 

145 


L R 


I»ve always had a good idea of what I*m Military service seems like a good solution 

going to do to my problems 124 

I joined the CCC*s more than once Yes ..No 126 

People talk to each other too much about People are frank and open with me 126 

things that concern me 

Having people kid me makes me mad Bumping into something makes me mad 127 

A friend is a person who helps you get A friend is a person who understands you 128 

ahead 

Has anyone in your family ever gone to a 

doctor or hospital for nervousness? Yes ..No 129 

My family was on relief for a while Yes .No 130 

My family was always quarreling My family stuck too close together 131 

Our family scraps often came after some- Drinking never was the cause of our family 132 

one had been drinking scraps 

My father worked for more than 8 years on 

one job or for one company Yes No 133 

I have been divoroed Yes No 134 

I am married or intend to get married 

sometime Yes No 135 

Something makes me say and do things I I can get along in most any situation 136 

don’t mean 

The hour8 at night seem long Yes No 137 

Being in a small closed-in place never Being in a small closed-in place makes me 138 

bothers me feel uneasy 

Did you ever wake up and find your tongue 

bitten? Yes No 139 

Have you bitten your nails since you 

were 15? Yes No 140 

Have you ever had a convulsion? Yes No 141 

Have you ever been arrested for anything 

other than a traffic violation? Yes ........ No 142 

Have you ever been sent to jail or reform 

school? Yes No 143 

Have you ever been a patient in a mental 

hospital? Yes No 144 

Do you think fighting men should get ( 

pensions after the war? Yes No l* 5 

Page 6 

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Part B 

OFFICERS’ 

PERSONAL INVENTORY 


Format 4 


Do not write or mark on this booklet . You are to indicate your answers on a separately 
provided Answer Sheet. 

In each question you will have two answers to choose between—the one on the left side of 
the page, and the one on the right. Choose the answer which fits you best, and mark your 
Answer Sheet accordingly; that is, if you choose the answer on the left, fill in the L space on 
the Answer Sheet, or if you choose the answer on the right, fill in the R space. Always fill in 
either one or the other, but never both. Even if neither answer fits you very well, you must 
choose the one that fits you better than the other. 


226 


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L 


Yes 


R 


1 I was an only child 


. No 1 


2 As a boy I went to camp 


I never went to a boys’ camp 


2 


3 I was a Sea Scout or First Class Boy Scout Yes 

4 As a boy I knew Morse Code 

5 I couldn’t swim when I was 10 

6 I was a sickly child 

7 I didn’t waste my time hanging around after school 

8 I was a dare-devil when I was a boy 

9 I have grown more tolerant as I have grown older 

10 As a child I had nightmares Yes 

11 I was happiest when I was with the gang 

12 As boys we were always thinking up new initiations 

and hazings 

13 As a boy I was ringleader of the gang 

14 I was a happy-go-lucky kid 


. No 

As a boy I did not know Morse Code 
I learned to swim before I was 10 
I was an active child 

I spent quite a bit of time in school activities 

I was overly cautious when I was a boy 

I have grown more cautious as I have grown older 

.. No 

In school the other boys went their way and I went 
mine 

We didn’t go in for initiations very much 
A friend of mine led the gang 
I was a sensitive kid 


3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 
9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 


In our neighborhood games one of us was always 

15 getting pretty well banged up 

16 In school I spent less than half of my free time in 

athletics 

17 I have coached, or helped coach, the other fellows 

on the team 

18 I consider myself a good athlete 

19 I prefer an opponent of equal skill 

20 I enjoy the tired feeling that comes after strenuous 

exercise 

21 After exertion I feel dizzy 

22 I usually eat a good meal 

23 I enjoy camping out and roughing it 

24 At an amusement park I prefer the penny arcade 

25 Most problems are like difficult games 

26 Work well done is sufficient reward in itself 

27 I prefer a job that challenges my ability 

28 I wish I wouldn’t feel so tired 

29 If I have an unpleasant job to do, I try to get it over 

with as quickly as possible 


I was never injured in any game as a boy 15 

In school I spent about half of my free time in ath- 16 
letics 

I’ve never coached, or helped coach, a team 17 

I consider myself about an average athlete 18 

I prefer playing against an opponent much better 19 
than myself 

I don’t believe in exercising too strenuously 20 

After exertion I feel hungry 21 

I usually eat very little 22 

I’ve never cared much for camping 23 

At an amusement park I prefer the roller-coaster 24 

Problems and games have little similarity 25 

Work well done should be praised 26 

I prefer a job I can do without any difficulty 27 

I wish I could have a more responsible job 28 

If I have an unpleasant job to do, I like to take my 29 
time about doing it 


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227 





30 

L 

I find any job tiring after a while 

R 

I have endurance to resist fatigue and nervous strain 

30 

31 

In civilian life I would rather be a florist 

In civilian life I would rather be a mechanic 

31 

32 

The sight of blood upsets me 

I think I might like to watch a surgical operation 
sometime 

32 

33 

I prefer to be a passenger in an automobile 

I prefer to be the driver of an automobile 

33 

34 

I have many practical skills 

I’m better at handling ideas 

34 

35 

I am very much interested in a few things 

I am interested in all kinds of things 

35 

36 

I prefer working under definite orders 

I like to be on my own 

36 

37 

I’ve never been particularly mechanically inclined 

I’ve always had a mechanical bent 

37 

38 

When things go wrong I call in the repair man 

I am an expert on fixing things 

38 

39 

I don’t seem to be very inventive 

I have a couple of schemes that I’ve always felt might 
make good inventions 

39 

40 

Some of the boys are much better at the job than I am 

I can do my work as well as anybody 

40 

41 

The average amount of sleep is enough for me 

I could work better if I could get more sleep 

41 

42 

I never stayed away from work unless I was siok 

I often had other reasons for staying away from work 

42 

43 

I wish I had more self-confidence 

I wish I had more responsibility 

43 

44 

I wish I wouldn’t keep putting things off 

I wish I weren’t so nervous 

44 

45 

I don’t like to attempt a job unless I’m pretty sure 
of the outcome 

I’d tackle anything within reason 

45 

46 

When my plans fall through, I usually have another 
“trick up my sleeve’’ 

When my plans fall through, I am usually at a loss as 
to what to do next 

46 

47 

I make it a point to know my stuff thoroughly 

I make it a point to know the essentials, but to save a 
good part of my energy for emergencies 

47 

48 

My ideas are usually unique 

My ideas are usually practical 

48 

49 

I’m inclined to look at the practical side of things 

I’m inclined to look at the humorous side of things 

49 

50 

I work best under pressure 

I work worst under pressure 

50 

51 

I like working with others 

I like working by myself 

51 

52 

I wish I wouldn’t worry so much 

I wish I could have more responsibilty 

52 

53 

I never doubt my ability to get things done 

I never doubt my ability to do things myself 

53 

54 

I prefer to do individual work 

I prefer to control or handle people 

54 

55 

I find it easier to explain things orally 

I find it easier to explain things in writing 

55 

56 

I get disgusted when people don’t catch on 

I get annoyed when people don’t catch on 

56 

57 

I usually ask people to do things 

I usually tell people to do things 

57 

58 

I am more interested in things 

I am more interested in people 

58 

228 

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L R 


59 

I'm more interested in what people are thinking 

I’m more interested in what people are doing 

59 

60 

People are frank and open with me 

People talk to each other too much about things that 
concern me 

60 

61 

Our telephone operators at home often gave me the 
wrong numbers 

I never had any troubl e giving information over the 
telephone 

61 

62 

I prefer to talk to a stranger by phone 

I prefer to talk to a stranger in person 

62 

63 

I often keep people waiting. 

I’m always on time for appointments 

63 

64 

My free time always seemed to be filled 

Somehow I never could find enough to do in my free 
time 

64 

65 

I pick my friends carefully 

I like to meet new people 

65 

66 

I haven’t settled down to one girl yet 

I’ve got a steady girl or I’m married 

66 

67 

Most people are o. k. when you get to know them 

There is always somebody in every crowd that no¬ 
body can get along with 

67 

68 

I let people solve their own problems 

I’m often asked to solve my friends’ problems 

68 

69 

I often make and break little promises 

A promise should never be broken under any circum¬ 
stances 

69 

70 

I remember people’s names easily 

Ordinarily I don’t pay much attention to people’s 
names 

70 

71 

The second time I meet a person I call him by his 
first name 

I don’t call people by their first names unless I know 
them well 

71 

72 

I would rather have athletic friends 

I would rather have less active friends 

72 

73 

I write letters mostly to friends 

I write letters mostly to relatives 

73 

74 

I’m always one of the group 

Sometimes I feel apart or aloof from the others 

74 

75 

I’m too hard to please 

I’m too easy to please 

75 

76 

I tend to worry 

I take life easy 

76 

77 

I avoid excitement 

I seek excitement 

77 

78 

When excited I feel stronger 

When excited I feel weak 

78 

79 

I feel nervous more after excitement is over 

I feel nervous more during stress and excitement 

79 

80 

I can act calm and undisturbed when I am afraid 

I can’t apj5ear very self-assured when things are un¬ 
certain 

80 

81 

I'm looking forward to a crisis to show my stuff 

I’m not sure just how I would act in a crisis 

81 

82 

I never let myself get in a tight spot 

When in a tight spot I can always find a way out 

82 

83 

I think better in an emergency 

I think better when I have time to reflect 

83 

84 

I rarely regret my speedy decisions 

I regret many of my speedy decisions 

84 

85 

I prefer to make my own decisions 

I usually seek reliable advice before making decisions 

85 

86 

I’ve always been a deep thinker 

I’ve always had good judgment 

86 

87 

I can make important decisions immediately 

I prefer to think things over before deciding 

87 

88 

I usually keep my ideas to myself 

I like to discuss my ideas with others 

88 


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229 



L 

89 A good argument provokes thought 

90 I prefer to discuss theoretical matters 

91 To avoid friction, I accept decisions with which I 

don’t agree 

92 When a party gets dull I liven it up 

93 I have never led any group 

94 I can explain things clearly 

95 I’m a hustler 

96 I'm seldom phased 

97 I’m somewhat slow and deliberate in my actions 

98 I am more nervous 

99 I usually show my emotions 

100 I am calm 

101 Sometimes I dread going to bed 

102 Our neighbors at home were too noisy 

103 When I once get mad, it takes me a while to get 

over it 

I sometimes get confused without any ap- 

104 parent reason No 

105 I think better when I’m mad 

106 When I get excited I talk better than I usually do 

107 I do a certain amount of good wholesome griping 

108 I think more quickly than the average person 

109 I enjoy finding my way around in a strange city 

110 I wish worrying wouldn’t make me sick to my 

stomach 

111 I wish I had more time to spend with my friends 

112 People consider me a clear thinker 

113 People consider me ambitious 

114 I can get along in most any situation 

115 I tend to be aloof from subordinates 

116 I have never tried to teach anybody anything 

117 Most of my friends are luckier than I am 

118 I criticize my subordinates too much 


R 

I dislike any argument 89 

I prefer to discuss practical things 90 

I try to change people around to my point of view 91 
I prefer to let others start the ball rolling 92 

I am respected among my friends as a leader 93 

I have a forceful manner 94 

I’m a diplomat 95 

Sometimes I get mixed up 96 

I’m energetic in my actions 97 

I am more easy going 98 

I usually hide my emotions 99 

I am reckless 100 

I usually like to go to bed 101 

Our neighbors at home were too sedate 102 

I flare up easily, but get over it quickly 103 


Yes 104 


I. can’t think straight when I'm mad 105 

When I get excited I find it hard to talk straight 106 

I tend to keep my grievances to myself 107 

I think about as quickly as the average person 108 

I prefer being in a city where I know my way around 109 
I wish I could get myself to take more chances 110 

I wish my feelings weren’t so easily hurt 111 

People consider me a good mixer 112 

People consider me unselfish 113 

Something makes me say and do things I don’t mean 114 
I am probably too familiar with subordinates 115 

I think I could do a good job of teaching 116 

I have my share of lucky breaks 117 

I praise my subordinates too much 118 


230 


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L 

119 I am stem 

120 Our neighbors at home were too nosey 

121 I’ve had my share of happiness 

122 I wish I could have more excitement 

123 The hours at night seem long Yes 

124 I’ve always been somewhat uneasy 

125 I sometimes drink because it helps me to forget No 

126 When I’m excited or upset I don’t show it much 

127 Being in a small closed-in place never bothers me 

128 I like most any kind of food 

129 I’ve hardly been sick a day in my life 

130 I have felt bad more from dizziness 

My heart sometimes speeds up for no reason at 


131 all No 

You have to worry more about heart trouble 

132 than most people think No 

I’ve had my share of backaches, headaches, 

133 and stomach aches Yes 

134 I’ve had a venereal disease Yes 

135 I sometimes faint for no good reason Yes 

136 I have more headaches than the average person No 


137 I have occasionally gone to a doctor for headaches 

or dizzy spells 

Someone in my family has gone to a doctor or hos- 

138 pital for nervousness Yes 

139 I’m very careful to take medicine whenever I need it 

140 I’d rather be healthy 

141 I’m happier in the morning 


R 

I am easy going 119 

Our neighbors went their own way pretty much 120 

I’ve had my share of sickness 121 

I wish I weren’t bothered by bad dreams 122 

.. No 123 

Nothing ever bothers me 124 


Yes 125 


When I’m excited or upset I feel sweaty 126 

Being in a small closed-in place makes me feel uneasy 127 
I have a poor appetite 128 

I’ve had the average amount of sickness 129 

I have felt bad more from head cold 130 


. Yes 131 

. Yes 132 

. No 133 

. No 134 

. No 135 

. Yes 136 

I have never gone to a doctor for headaches or dizzy 137 
spells 

. No 138 

Most people aren’t as sick as they think they are 139 
I'd rather be well liked 140 

I’m happier in the afternoon 141 

231 


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L 

142 Noise and confusion bother me more 

143 I feel uncomfortable about being in high places 

144 I’m more afraid of getting shell shocked 

145 I am more afraid of drowning 

146 I like to have things repeated 

147 I prefer to r eceive oral orders from my superior 

148 I feel that my education and talents are being wasted 

right now 

The Navy is more deserving of praise than the Mer- 

149 chant Marine Yes 

150 Most of the things I learn in the service are only 

going to help win the war 


R 

Continued silence bothers me more 142 

Being up in high places never bothers me 143 

I’m more afraid of being physically maimed 144 

I am more afraid of being shot 145 

I always hear correctly the first time 146 

I pre fer to receive written orders 147 


I feel that the war is making full use of my talents 148 
and education 


.No 149 

Most of the things I learn in the service will be of 150 
value to me when I get out 


151 I prefer to have good men under me 

152 Leadership is inborn 

153 The chief function of an officer is to keep his men 

working 

154 It is more important for an officer to know the good 

points of his men 


I prefer to have good officers over me 151 

Leadership can be learned 152 

The chief function of an officer is to guide his men 153 

It is more important for an officer to know the weak 154 
points of his men 


It is more important for an officer to feel at ease with 
155 other officers 


It is more important for an officer to feel at ease with 

his men 155 


156 Officers should welcome advice only from other 

officers 

157 An officer should never be sarcastic 

158 A good leader pitches in 

159 Officers should be automatically promoted at sche¬ 

duled intervals 

160 In some ways a scapegoat is an asset in a group 

161 A sense of humor relaxes discipline 

162 Criticism helps a person do better 

163 Good morale depends more on good men 

164 Some outfits are more important than others in 

winning the war 


Officers should welcome advice from the men in their 156 
company 

Some men will respond only to sarcasm 157 

A good leader arranges things so that it isn’t neces- 158 
sary for him to pitch in 

Promotion should come only as a reward for merit 159 


Blame can always be correctly placed where it be- 160 
longs 

A sense of humor can aid discipline 161 

Criticism makes a person resentful 162 

Good morale depends more on good equipment 163 
Each outfit is equally important in winning the war 164 


232 


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UNITED STATES NAVY 


GENERAL CLASSIFICATION TEST 

FORM I 

NAVPERS 16500 
1943 


General Directions 

Do not write or make marks of any kind In this test booklet * 

Your answers to the questions In this test are to be marked on the sep¬ 
arate answer sheet. Use only the special pencil which has been given you 
for marking your answers. You^aretoTMuFk^ouF” answer to each question by 
blacking one of the spaces opposite the number of the question. In black¬ 
ing in the space , make several strokes up and down until you have made a 
glossy black mark. You may erase a mark if you wish to change an answer, 
but be sure to erase thoro u ghly . Remember, make no marks on this test 
booklet. 

Before you start each part of the test, you will have a chance to read 
special directions for that part and to work some practice problems. 

Give only one answer to each question: double answers are counted as 
incorrect. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question. If you are uncertain, make 
the best choice you can. Do not skip any questions. Work as rapidly and 
as accurately as you can. 


NOTICE; 

This rest is not to be shown, or the contents revealed, to unauthorized persons in or 
out of the Navy, or reproduced in whole or in part without written authorization from 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel of the United States Navy. This test booklet must be 
surrendered with the answer sheet at the close of the test. 


233 


DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO 

RESTRICTED 







PART I 


SENTENCE COMPLETION 
Directions and Samples 


In this test you will be given sentences to read. One word has been left 
out of each. Following each sentence are printed five words, one of which 
is the word which was left out. You are to decide which one of the five 
words belongs in the sentence. 

Look at sample sentence A below: 

A. The color of milk is . 

1 green 2 red 3 white 4 blue 5 orange 

The word which was left out of the sentence is white , which Is number 3, 
Therefore the space under 3 has been blacked in on the separate answer"" 
sheet opposite A, in the section labeled ’’COMPLETION — Samples”, 

Here Is another sample sentence. Find the word which fits in the sentence 

and black in the proper space on the answer sheet opposite B. Do this now. 

B. We looked at the clock to see what .,»•••. it was. 

1 day 2 year 3 weather 4 town 5 time 

The word which fits in best is number 5, time ; so you should have blacked 

in the space under 5 in line B on the answer sheet. 

Here are three more sample sentences. Answer them, and mark your answers 
on the answer sheet. 

C. I thought he was asleep because his eyes were , 

1 dark 2 shut 3 dull 4 gray 5 heavy 

D* A good sailor will .. the orders of his superior officers. 

1 see 2 fear 3 read 4 obey 5 like 

E, He awoke early in the morning and saw the . sinking below 

the horizon in the west. 

1 sun 2 moon 3 storm 4 waves 5 clouds 

Now check your answers as I give the correct ones to you. 

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

If you made any mistakes, correct them by thoroughly erasing the wrong 
answers and marking the answer sheet correctly. 

On the following pages you will find more sentences like the ones you have 
Just answered; but some will be more difficult. You should always choose 
the one word which best fits in with all parts of the sentenoe, 

one answer to each question. If you are not sure of the answer, 
make the best choice you can. Do not skip any questions. Work as fast and 
as accurately as you can. 


STOP HERE. DO NOT GO TO THE NEXT PAGE 
UNTIL THE SIGNAL ’’READY BEGIN” IS GIVEN. 


234 


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SENTENCE COMPLETION 


Teat Questions 

Mark only on separate answer sheet. 


1. A boat floats on the .. 

1 water 2 sail 3 oar 4 wharf 5 wind 

2. A seaman should.. his duties. 

1 decide 2 explain 3 find 4 know 5 divide 

3. Always ••••••• the salute of those under you. 

1 approve 2 seek 3 appreciate 4 watch 5 return 

4. Most landlubbers are . during their first ocean voyage. 

1 seasick 2 frightened 3 dissatisfied 4 drowsy 5 amazed 

5. After a six months* voyage, the ship sailed safely into the . 

1 wharf 2 sea 3 port 4 foam 5 sunset 

6. The ship is still missing though we have tried for months to ••••••• it. 

1 see 2 restore 3 search 4 locate 5 save 

7. When the wind sprang up, the men in the small boat hoisted the . 

1 flag 2 sail 3 oars 4 mast 5 signal 

8. The men displayed great. in the face of heavy gun fire. 

1 ability 2 satisfaction 3 agility 4 self-control 5 alacrity 

9. He still retains his enthusiasm and courage despite the ••••••• experiences 

he has had. 

1 varied 2 fatal 3 numerous 4 adventurous 5 harrowing 

10. Never stow away a coil of rope unless it is perfectly .••••••, since it 

will deteriorate quickly if allowed to remain damp. 

1 slack 2 waxed 3 dry 4 twined 5 intact 

11. He found that it did not pay to be . in disciplinary cases, since 

the men respected only a commanding officer who was strict with them. 

1 harsh 2 lenient 3 unjust 4 wrong 5 fair 

12. The fog that sprang up was so dense that although it was . he could 

hardly see his hand before his face. 

1 twilight 2 dawn 3 noon 4 night 5 overcast 

13. The torpedo is a short-range weapon; to use it the destroyer must get 

relatively close to its .. 

1 target 2 base 3 fleet 4 explosion 5 tender 

14. It was clear in 1942 that victory over Japan would be an ••••••• victory 

indeed if it were coupled with a United Nations defeat in Europe at the 
hands of Germany. 

1 important 2 appalling 3 empty 4 officious 5 indirect 

15. Though particular branches of science have ...•••• appeared to be completely 
investigated and definitely formulated, this has always proved to be an 
illusion. 

1 once 2 occasionally 3 never 4 always 5 meanwhile 

i 

16. The motor torpedo boats are not even big enough to have •••••••; the one I 

went out in was known merely as No. 18. 

1 docks 2 turbines 3 reinforcements 4 lifeboats 5 names 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


3 


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235 


















17. Any material placed In the boat must be allowed for by.the number of 

1 ascertaining 2 increasing 3 reducing 4 accommodating 5 predicting 

18. We patrolled the Channel, skirting the edges of the mine fields and all the 

time listening for submarines on the.device. 

1 signalling 2 control 3 aerial 4 detecting 5 depth 

19. A vessel navigating in a fog must go no faster than will permit her to .. 

within the distance she can see ahead. 

1 start 2 stop 3 reverse 4 sail 5 hear 

20. The more closely the oity and the country are knit together the better; 
their interests in the last analysis are ««•«»<* * 

1 practical 2 distinct 3 unselfish 4 necessary 5 mutual 

21. It was noticeable that elderly men predominated among ths crews; some of the 
recent recruits, however, were .••••*• . 

1 inexperienced 2 relaxed 3 active 4 boys 5 enthusiasts 

22. A strategist who adheres inflexibly to ary set of preconceived rules is 

hardly likely to be victor against a opponent. 

1 resourceful 2 persevering 3 vigilant 4 practiced 5 niggardly 

23. Even if one insists on regarding the air forces as s. separate branch of 
military power it is a rather •#••••• outlook which concentrates upon the 
spectacle of the airplane over its target, to the exclusion of the long 
chain of circumstances which are responsible for putting it there. 

1 indefinite 2 normal 3 realistic 4 limited 5 cynical 

24. The chief disadvantage of the hydrophone was that it picked up other ..«•••• 
than that of the submarined propellers. 

1 elements 2 features 3 noises 4 clues 5 details 

25. In a pursuit as ..as is the waging of war, it might be set down as an 

axiom that no one factor, and certainly no one weapon, can be exclusively 
decisive. 

1 difficult 2 complex 3 confused 4 challenging 5 painstaking 

26. In recent battleships, the proportion of ..devoted to armor has gone 

above the 40 per cent mark. 

1 paint 2 iron 3 tonnage 4 construction 5 space 

27. Those to whom the word "defensive" has now become malodorous must be reminded 

that simultaneous offensives against two powerful and widely removed enemies 
are usually impossible and always .. 

1 accidental 2 hazardous 3 overwhelming 4 interdependent 5 suicidal 

28. Despite the great emphasis on protection in the battleship it is armament 

and not armor that makes a . ship. 

1 light 2 fast 3 heavy 4 manageable 5 fighting 

29. It Is worth noting that armor decks were used on warships long before the 

development of the airplane, and oven now the heaviest impact which the 
armor decks are called upon to bear la from .. • 

1 bombs 2 torpedoes 3 shells 4 depth charges 5 submarinea 

30. It is difficult to conceive of gunfire at a target thirteen miles away being 

more ..than aerial bombing from only 2,000 feet elevation, but this 

is actually the case. 

1 accurate 2 inaccurate 3 harmless 4 risky 5 visible 


STOP. WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. 


236 


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PART II 




OPPOSITES 
Directions and Samples 


Look at this sample question: 

P. HOT 

1 flat 2 cold 3 light 4 soft 5 wet 

You know that the opposite of HOT is cold . Cold is number 2, so number 2 has 
been blacked in on tne answer sheet• Look at your answer sheet, in the 
section labeled "OPPOSITES — Samples", to see how this has been done. 

Notice that the space under 2 has been blacked in opposite F. 

In each question in this test you will see a word printed in CAPITAL LETTERS. 
This word is followed by five numbered words, only one of which means the 
opposite of the word in capital letters. In each case, you are to find the 
one word which means the opposite of the word in capital letters. 

Here is another practice question. Find the answer, and black in the proper 
space in line G on the answer sheet.. 

G. BUSY 

1 tired 2 friendly 3 stupid 4 idle 5 weak 

The word which means the opposite of BUSY is idle . Idle Is number 4, so in 
line G on the answer sheet, you should have blacked In the space under number 4. 

Here are three more practice questions. Do them, and mark your answers on the 
answer sheet. 


H. 

I. 

/ 

J. 

Nov check 


SELFISH 

1 generous 2 lazy 3 playful 4 happy 5 beautiful 
BREAK 

1 weep 2 find 3 handle 4 use 5 mend 
CsRIEP 

1 angsr 2 poverty 3 joy 4 sorrow 5 pride 
your answers while I give the correct ones to you. 


ARE THERE ANY CiJESTIONS? 

If you mfc.de any mistakes, erase your wrong answers completely , and then mark 
your sheet correctly. 

In the teat on the following pages you will have more questions like the ones 
you have Just done. Answer each question carefully, but if you are not sure, 
make the best guess that you can. 

If you should finish before time Is called, go back and check your answers. 


DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL 
"READY BEGIN" IS GIVEN. 


RESTRICTED 


237 







OPPOSITES 
Test Questions 

Mark only on separate answer sheet. 


31. QUICK 

1 strong 2 slow 3 dry 4 dark 5 neat 

32. STRAIGHT 

1 shiny 2 low 3 crooked 4 clean 5 long 

33. CHEERFUL 

1 clumsy 2 wise 3 active 4 plain 5 gloomy 

34. GIVE 

1 lose 2 keep 3 hear 4 live 5 hate 

35. SHARP 

1 hollow 2 blunt 3 calm 4 heavy 5 clear 

36. TRUST 

1 blame 2 deny 3 forget 4 doubt 5 surprise 

37. REAL 

1 foreign 2 imaginary 3 empty 4 faint 5 rare 

38. JOIN 

1 mislay 2 confuse 3 refute 4 distrust 5 separate 

39. CONCEITED 

1 afraid 2 rough 3 modest 4 quiet 5 ashamed 

40. ADEQUATE 

1 improper 2 deceitful 3 insufficient 4 unprotected 5 unnecessary 

41. DISCLOSE 

1 conceal 2 befriend 3 rectify 4 observe 5 suspect 

42. COMPETENT 

1 dissatisfied 2 corrupt 3 unfriendly 4 incapable 5 unopposed 

43. COMPLIANCE 

1 exposure 2 resistance 3 inference 4 reprisal 5 perseverance 

44. POLLUTE 

1 determine 2 sustain 3 convert 4 dilute 5 purify 

45. CONCENTRATE 

1 disapprove 2 cheapen 3 diffuse 4 conflict 5 refuse 

46. RIGOROUS 

1 delinquent 2 superstitious 3 voluntary 4 refined 5 lenient 


6 DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


238 


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47. OCCASIONAL 

1 frequent 2 former 3 manifold 4 concurrent 5 eventual 

48. ACCELERATE 

1 punish 2 grovel 3 release 4 soothe 5 retard 

49. INVOLVE 

1 allay 2 derange 3 suppress 4 exclude 5 dispel 

50. IMPAIR 

1 enhance 2 damage 3 complement 4 sanction 5 acquiesce 

51. INDISPENSABLE 

1 compensatory 2 superfluous 3 exceptional 4 reprehensible 
5 conditional 

52. METICULOUS 

1 slovenly 2 prudish 3 indiscreet 4 confiding 5 gluttonous 

53. CONCERTED 

1 unmusical 2 discouraged 3 inapplicable 4 disorganized 5 mistaken 

54. VINDICTIVE 

1 irascible 2 unselfish 3 forgiving 4 reactive 5 communicative 

55. LATENT 

1 stunted 2 beneficent 3 secular 4 apparent 5 mismanaged 

56. BLATANT 

1 astute 2 deliberate 3 jubilant 4 reticent 5 melancholy 

57. DISPARATE 

1 reciprocal 2 moderate 3 appropriate 4 concomitant 5 identical 

58. EQUABLE 

1 unjustified 2 bewildering 3 unstable 4 eccentric 5 callous 

59. INIMITABLE 

1 fabulous 2 ordinary 3 jocund 4 loquacious 5 mitigated 

60. RECANT 

1 avow 2 congeal 3 covet 4 expunge 5 elicit 


STOP. WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. 


7 


RESTRICTED 


239 


PART III 


ANALOGIES 
Directions and Samples 


In this test you will be asked to find certain relationships between words. 

You will have a number of sentences to read; in each sentence you will have 
one pair of words, such as NIGHT and dark, which have the same relationship 
as another pair of words, such as DAY and light . 

Read the following sentence: 

During the NIGHT it is dark , but during the DAY it is light . 

Notice that "night'* is related to "dark" in the same way that H day" is related 
to "light", so we may say that 

NIGHT is to dark as DAY is to light . 

Now look at this one: 

You READ a book and LISTEN to music . 

Here you can see that 

READ is to book as LISTEN Is to music . 

In the question labeled K below, you are to select the one of the five 
numbered words which besT completes the thought. 

K. READ is to book as LISTEN is to 

1 music 2 air 3 pencil 4 newspaper 5 platform 

The correct answer is "music", or number 1. Notice on the answer sheet , in the 
section labeled "ANALOGIES — Samples", that space 1 has been blacked In, 
opposite the letter K. 

What is the correct answer to the following question? 

L. GLOVE is to hand as HAT is to 

1 face 2 fingers 3 forehead 4 body 5 head 

A GLOVE is worn on the hand , and a HAT is worn on the head ; so head , or number 
5, is the correct answer. Show the answer by blacking in the space under 5, 
opposite the letter L, on the answer sheet. Do this now. 

Find the answers to the following questions yourself; record your answers on 
the answer sheet. 


M. FISH Is to swjjn as BIRD Is to 

1 air 2 fly 3 feathers 4 ride 5 wings 

N. WATER is to sponge as INK Is to 

1 pen 2 bottle 3 write 4 blotter 5 desk 

O. THERMOMETER is to temperature as CLOCK Is to 

1 month 2 heat 3 time 4 hand 5 dial 


8 DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


240 


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I 




Now chock your answers as I give the correct ones to you. 


ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

If you made any mistakes, erase your wrong answers completely , and then mark 
your sheet correctly. 

In the test on the following pages you will have more questions like the ones 
you have just done. Answer each question carefully, but if you are not sure, 
make the best guess that you can. 

If you should finish before time is called, go back and check your answers. 


DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL 
’•READY BEGIN” IS GIVEN. 


9 


RESTRICTED 


241 




ANALOGIES 


242 


Mark only on separate answer sheet. 


61* EYE Is to see as EAR Is to 

1 nose ITliead 3 hear 4 speak 5 listen 

62. TREE is to branch as HAND is to 

1 arm 2 glove 3 wrist 4 finger 5 fist 

63* DOOR is to room as LIPS are to 

1 tongue 2 mouth 3 nose 4 teeth 5 face 

64. GUN Is to aim as BOAT is to 

1 rudder 2 float 3 steer 4 sail 5 navigate 

65. FISH is to scales as BIRD is to 

1 wings 2 l“eet 3 eggs 4 feathers 5 skin 

66. HOUSE is to foundation as TREE is to 

1 garden 2 branches 3 roots 4 bark 5 leaves 

67. SHIP is to lifeboat as PLANE is to 

1 safety belt IS hangar 3 aircraft carrier 4 glider 5 parachute 

68. FOREST is to trees as NAVY Is to 

1 sailors 2 admirals 3 defense 4 food 5 ocean 

69. CROP is to land as FISH is to 

1 fisherman 2 sea 3 market 4 fish-net 5 boat 

70. AIR Is to wind as WATER is to 

1 land 2 waves 3 clouds 4 ocean 5 fish 

71. ASK is to receive as ATTEMPT is to 

1 desire 2 give 3 begin 4 wait 5 succeed 

72. TRAINS are to passengers as BOOKS are to 

1 book-3tores 2 authors 3 paper 4 publishers 5 Ideas 

73. THRO’// Is to catch as TEACH is to 

1 remember 2”study 3 learn 4 read 5 respect 

74. GROUND is to worm as OCEAN is to 

1 submarine S destroyer 3 cable 4 sea 5 depth bomb 

75. LAVA is to volcano as SPEECH is to 

1 words 2 orator 3 audience 4 eloquence 5 temper 

76. SALARY Is to service as PENALTY is to 

1 work 2 disapproval 3 discipline 4 misdemeanor 5 pain 

77. MATCH is to flame as DETONATOR is to 

1 explosion S’ trigger 3 bullet 4 gun 5 powder 

78. WATER Is to island as LAND is to 

1 continent S""peninsula 3 ocean 4 lake 5 stream 

79. TROUBLE is to unhappiness as SUN Is to 

1 heavens 2 earth J warmth 4 cold 5 moon 


10 DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 

RESTRICTED 















80. LITERATURE is to book as ART is to 

1 artist 2 painting 3 color 4 beauty 5 scenery 

81. INVENTION is to idea as RIVER is to 

1 ocean 2 flood 3 crops 4 spring 5 bank 

82. POSITIVE is to uncertain as KNOWLEDGE is to 

1 logic 2 faith proof 4 superstition 5 convention 

83. CREST is to trough as HILL is to 

1 mountain 2 meadow 3 slope 4 lake 5 valley 

84. AIRPLANE is to wings as AUTOMOBILE is to 

1 motor 2 land 3 wheels 4 brake 5 hood 

85. INTERMITTENT is to continuous as FLICKER is to 

1 frighten 2 blink 3 fade 4 glare 5 glint 

86. THREATEN is to fulfill as CLOUDS are to 

1 winter 2 darkness 3 storm 4 dampness 5 sunshine 

87. TWILIGHT is to darkness as SORROW is to 

1 misfortune 2 despair 3 discomfort 4 happiness 5 regret 

88. MORNING is to wake as SPRING Is to 

1 flowers 2 thaw 3 grow 4 sprout 5 welcome 

89. MONTH is to time as QUART is to 

1 gallon 2 measure 3 volume 4 peck 5 scales 

90. CHARACTER is to reputation as REALITY is to 

1 appearance 2 conduct 3 integrity 4 wisdom 5 possibility 

91. STREAM is to torrent as RETREAT is to 

1 rout 2 victory 3 failure 4 army 5 battle 

92. TELESCOPE is to lens as VIOLIN is to 

1 violinist 2 Vow 3 strings 4 music 5 piano 

93. LIGHTHOUSE is to reef as CONSCIENCE is to 

1 man 2 conduct 3 good 4 soul 5 temptation 

94. CONTINENT is to Isthmus as OCEAN is to 

1 channel 2 bay 5 peninsula 4 strait 5 lake 

95. BLOTTER is to ink as EGOTIST is to 

1 friends 2 enemies 3 selfishness 4 contempt 5 praise 

96. DIVE Is to fall as SWIM is to 

1 sink 2 float 3 drown 4 rise 5 rescue 

97. MEDICINES are to health as FERTILIZERS are to 

1 riches 2 soil 5 agriculture 4 farm 5 productivity 

98. MATCH is to fuse as FUSE is to 

1 explosion 2 gun 3 bullet 4 powder 5 trigger 

99. PEN is to ink as SUBMARINE is to 

1 torpedo 2 explosion 3 dive bomber 4 ocean 5 ship 

100. SAPLING Is to lumber as CALF is to 

1 cow 2 beeT 5 shoes 4 bull 5 veal 


STOP. WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS 

RESTRICTED 


11 


243 












UNITED STATES 


NAVY 


GENERAL CLASSIFICATION TEST 


FORM 2 

NAVPERS - 16502 
1943 


General Directions 


Do not write or make marks of any kind in this test booklet . 

Your answers to the questions in this test are to be marked on the sep¬ 
arate answer sheet. Use only the special pencil which has been given you 
for marking your answers • Tou^iFeto^arkyouF’ answer to each question by 
blacking one of the spaces opposite the number of the question. In black¬ 
ing in the space, make several strokes up and down until you have made a 
glossy black mark. You may erase a mark if you wish to change an answer, 
but be sure to erase thoroughly . Remember, make no marks on this test 
booklet. 

Before you start each part of the test, you will have a chance to read 
special directions for that part and to work some practice problems. 

Give only one answer to each question; double answers are counted as incor¬ 
rect. 

Do not spend too much time on any one question. If you are uncertain, make 
the best choice you can. Do not skip any questions. Work as rapidly and 
as accurately as you can. 


NOTICE* 

This test is not to be shown, or the contents revealed, to 
unauthorized persons in or out of the Navy, or reproduced in 
whole or In part without written authorization fron the Bureau 
of Naval Personnel of the United States Navy. This test book¬ 
let must be surrendered with the answer sheet at the close of 
the test. 


DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO 

RESTRICTED 


245 







PART I 


SENTENCE COMPLETION 
Directions and Samples 


In this test you will be given sentences to read. One word has been left out of 
each. Following each sentence are printed five words, one of which is the word 
which was left out. You are to decide which one of the five words belongs in the 
sentence. 

Look at sample sentence A below: 

A. The color of milk is . 

1 green 2 red 3 white 4 blue 5 orange 

The word which was left out of the sentence is white , which is number 3. Therefore 
the space under 3 has been blacked in on the separate answer sheet opposite A, 
in the section labeled "COMPLETION — Samples". 

Here is another sample sentence. Find the word which fits in the sentence and black 
in the proper space on the answer sheet opposite B. Do this now, 

B. We looked at the clock to see what ••••••• it was. 

1 day 2 year 3 weather 4 town 5 time 

The word which fits in best is number 5, time ; so you should have bracked in the 

space under 5 in line B on the answer sheet• 

Here are three more sample sentences. Answer them, and mark your answers on the 
answer sheet. 

C. I thought he was asleep because his eyes were ••••••• 

1 dark 2 shut 3 dull 4 gray 5 heavy 

D. A good sailor will . the orders of his superior officers. 

1 see 2 fear 3 read 4 obey 5 like 

E. He awoke early in the morning and saw the ••••••• sinking below 

the horizon in the west. 

1 sun 2 moon 3 storm 4 waves 5 clouds 

Now check your answers as the correct ones are given to you. 

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

If you made any mistakes, correct them by thoroughly erasing the wrong answers and 
marking the answer sheet correctly. 

On the following pages you will find more sentences like the ones you have just 
answered; but some will be more difficult. You should always choose the one word 
which best fits in with all parts of the sentence. 

Mark only one answer to each question. If you are not sure of the answer, make the 
best choice you can. Do not skip any questions. Work as rapidly and as accurately 
as you can. 


DO NOT GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL "READY - BEGIN" IS GIVEN. 


246 


RESTRICTED 










SENTENCE COMPLETION 


Test Questions 

Mark only on separate answer sheet. 


1. The main task of a navy is to win . 

1 ships 2 guns 3 prizes 4 friends 5 battles 

2. It takes a lon'g- time to .a battleship. 

1 build 2 defend 3 float 4 stop 5 attack 

3. Strong electric currents can have such a . effect on the body that the 

Injury they cause may be permanent. 

1 mysterious 2 harmful 3 healthful 4 thrilling 5 mild 

4. A navy is large if it has many . 

1 duties 2 officers 3 oceans 4 ships 5 parts 

5. When a steam and a sailing vessel are proceeding so as to involve risk of 
. , the steam vessel shall keep out of the way of the sailing vessel. 

1 upset 2 collision 3 sinking 4 grounding 5 stopping 

6. The air escaping from the oid type of torpedo as it traveled through the water 

marked its . so that it could sometimes be avoided by its intended victim. 

1 depth 2 path 3 size 4 source 5 distance 

7. The men must learn to ....... fresh water as much as possible, as it is 

obtained at great expense on board ship. 

1 purify 2 drink 3 conserve 4 enjoy 5 secure 

8. Because the men had taken their shoes off, their feet became . from 

wading up onto the stony beach. 

1 tired 2 wet 3 hot 4 cold 5 bruised 

9. A few torpedo hits on important ships of a retreating fleet may force its 

admiral into an action he would otherwise . 

1 seek 2 win 3 avoid 4 lose 5 dislike 

10. The ..of a bullet shot from a modern rifle is such that the bullet may 

strike a man before he hears the sound of the explosion which sent it on its 

way. 

1 impact 2 path 3 speed 4 effect 5 sound 

11. The captain doubted whether the submarine's ballast tanks were still Intact; 

if they were not, there was no hope of blowing the water out of them and 
thereby losing enough .to allow the boat to return to the surface. 

1 weight 2 air 3 speed 4 bulk 5 descent 

12. Supplies were getting scarce and the torpedo boats were . to make 

further offensive raid3 since we couldn't afford to risk the boats or spare 
the gas. 

1 forbidden 2 needed 3 forced 4 prepared 5 used 

13. In naval warfare, the side which sees that it is clearly weaker will usually 

attempt to . action. 

1 begin 2 evade 3 win 4 settle 5 organize 

14. Sailing vessels may seem to be very . to operate, but due to the cost of 

handling sails they are more expensive than steam-driven freighters. 

1 difficult 2 easy 3 cheap 4 slow 5 costly 

15. TNT is a powerful and dangerous explosive, but it can be handled . pro¬ 

vided its characteristics are known. 

1 carefully 2 skillfully 3 cheaply 4 speedily 5 safely 


DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE 

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3 


247 

















the 


248 


16. The correct way to remove the Insulation from heavy wire is to 
insulation off the wire as you would sharpen a lead pencil. 

1 peel 2 whittle 3 pull 4 pick 5 rub 

17. Although the ship was very . , he could see every detail because the air 

was unusually clear. 

1 close 2 vague 3 large 4 distant 5 indistinct 

18. The importance in warfare of ability to transport supplies is generally 

recognized; however, upon the entrance of Japan and the United States into 
the war the daily press was full of comparisons of the naval strength of the 
two countries but entirely neglected the matter of . tonnage. 

1 lost 2 portable 3 shipping 4 heavy 5 utilizing 

19. On board ship, the .of time is absolutely necessary because it may be 

impossible to determine a ship's position unless the time of day is known. 

1 planning 2 passage 3 saving 4 measurement 5 minimum 

20. The . of the explosive charge in a shell is not a good indication of its 

destructive power because some explosives are much more powerful pound for 
pound than others. 

1 structure 2 weight 3 size 4 danger 5 appearance 

21. Much of the criticism of the government arose because surface developments 
were taken as indications of basic policy when they were in fact merely 
••••••• steps in the process of achieving that policy. 

1 harmless 2 preliminary 3 general 4 alleged 5 controversial 

22. There is a saturation point of supply, and all above that ••••••• successful 

operations. 

1 determines 2 prolongs 3 hinders 4 paralyzes 5 eases 

23* Despite the defenders' resort to the "scorched earth" policy in Malaya, the 

Japanese ..vast stores of tin and rubber with possibilities of later 

exploitation. 

1 attacked 2 had 3 destroyed 4 maintained 5 acquired 

24. Wire rope of the same size as Manila rope is much stronger, so that for a 

given task a wire rope may be used which is . than the Manila rope which 

would be needed for the same purpose. 

1 thinner 2 tougher 3 thicker 4 stiffer 5 stronger 

25. The formation of rust is ..by heat, as is shown by the fact that the 

parts of a ship's hull near the boilers rust more rapidly than other parts. 

1 damaged 2 accompanied 3 delayed 4 increased 5 caused 

26. In the majority of cases gas poisoning is due to carbon monoxide, and unless 

it is known definitely that some other poisonous gas is responsible, it is 
usually . that carbon monoxide is the cause of asphyxiation. 

1 known 2 clear 3 found 4 supposed 5 doubted 

27. Care is sometimes necessary when surprise of the enemy is needed, but at 

other times caution may actually result in greater . than would boldness. 

1 losses 2 victories 3 advantages 4 effectiveness 5 bravery 

28. The great commander must be able to stick to his course despite a thousand 

distractions, and yet be sufficiently . to recognize when a change in 

circumstances demands a change in plan. 

1 agreeable 2 informed 3 flexible 4 independent 5 bold 

29. Intensified enemy submarine operations in the western Atlantic soon put in¬ 
creased strain upon shipping that had already been . by a greater 

military demand for transports. 

1 taxed 2 expanded 3 weakened 4 necessitated 5 required 

30. The propaganda expert is convinced that the psychological front is decisive in 

modern warfare, the economist is equally certain that the production effort is 
most important, and among military men there will be all kinds of divisions of 
opinion according to the .of the disputants. 

1 wisdom 2 characteristics 3 ambitions 4 Intelligence 5 specialties 

4 STOP. WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. 

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PART II 


OPPOSITES 
Directions and Samples 


Look at this sample question: 

P • HOT 

1 flat 2 cold 3 light 4 soft 5 wet 

You know that the opposite of HOT is cold . Cold is number 2, so number 2 has been 
blacked in on the answer sheet. Look at your answer sheet, in the section labeled 
"OPPOSITES — Samples,” to see how this has been done. Notice that the space under 
2 has been blacked in opposite F. 

In each question in this test you will see a word printed in CAPITAL LETTERS. This 
word is followed by five numbered words, only one of which means the opposite of the 
word in capital letters. In each case, you are to find the one word which means 
the opposite of the word in capital letters. 

Here is another practice question. Find the answer, and black in the proper space 
in line G on the answer sheet. 

G. BUSY 

1 tired 2 friendly 3 stupid 4 idle 5 weak 

The word which means the opposite of BUSY is idle . Idle is number 4, so in line G 
on the answer sheet, you should have blacked in the space under number 4. 

Here are three more practice questions. Do them, and mark your answers on the 
answer sheet. 

H. SELFISH 

1 generous 2 lazy 3 playful 4 happy 5 beautiful 


I. 

BREAK 

1 weep 

2 find 3 

handle 

4 use 5 

mend 

J. 

GRIEF 

1 anger 

2 poverty 

3 Joy 

4 sorrow 

5 pride 


Now check your answers as the correct ones are given to you. 

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

If you made any mistakes, erase your wrong answers completely , and then mark your 
sheet correctly. 

In the test on the following pages you will have more questions like the ones you 
have Just done. Answer each question carefully, but if you are not sure, make the 
best guess that you can. 

If you should finish before time is called, go back and check your answers. 


DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL "READY - BEGIN" IS GIVEN 

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5 


249 












OPPOSITES 


Test Questions 

Mark only on separate answer sheet 


31. EARLY 

1 past 2 slow 3 lazy 4 late 

32. ANGRY 

1 pleased 2 hopeful 3 careful 

33. FIND 

1 send 2 leave 3 lose 4 drop 

34. APPROACH 

1 extend 2 dismiss 3 attack 

35. FASTENED 

1 abandoned 2 loose 3 wide 

36. INTERESTING 

1 serious 2 unpopular 

37. MATURE 

1 undeveloped 

38. PROBABLE 

1 possible 

39. COMPULSORY 

1 superfluous 

40. GRADUAL 

1 unexpected 

41. YIELD 

1 intend 

42. EXCLUDE 

1 connect 

43. BRISK 

1 sluggish 

44. FACILITATE 

1 hinder 


5 future 


4 comfortable 5 boastful 


5 hide 


4 withdraw 5 rebel 


4 broken 5 exposed 


4 difficult 5 foolish 


4 Inferior 5 ridiculous 


4 unlikely 5 unfavorable 


4 indulgent 5 desired 


4 excessive 5 sudden 


4 manage 5 withstand 


4 repay 5 support 


4 shy 5 smooth 


4 coerce 5 clarify 


3 dull 


2 partial 3 weak 


2 unsuitable 3 concealed 


2 voluntary 3 enthusiastic 


2 irregular 3 greedy 


2 repudiate 3 provoke 


2 pamper 3 admit 


2 coarse 3 vague 


2 obey 3 camouflage 


6 


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250 


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45. SYNTHETIC 

1 moist 2 intense 3 crude 4 normal 5 natural 


46. INTRICATE 

1 neat 2 simple 3 complex 4 vast 5 soiled 


47. DEPLETE 

1 acquire 2 pump 3 diffuse 4 replenish 5 value 


48. PROMINENT 

1 unessential 2 pitiful 3 inconspicuous 4 contemptible 5 futile 


49. RIGID 

1 curved 2 crooked 3 pliant 4 chaotic 5 floating 


50. ANONYMOUS 

1 identified 2 authentic 3 egotistic 4 meaningful 5 outstanding 


51. STRINGENT 

1 lax 2 muffled 3 subtle 4 embellished 5 fragrant 


52. PRECARIOUS 

1 secure 2 bold 3 convincing 4 deep 5 weighty 


53. PRECEDE 

1 proceed 2 depart 3 oppose 4 follow 5 claim 


54. SUBSEQUENT. 

1 ultimate 2 prior 3 retarded 4 superb 5 derivative 


55. CESSATION 

1 encroachment 2 variation 3 continuation 4 creation 5 acquisition 


56. CIRCUITOUS 

1 concrete 2 conclusive 3 brief 4 direct 5 compact 


57. UNPRECEDENTED 

1 awaited 2 customary 3 premature 4 resultant 5 basic 


58. INCENTIVE 

1 contradiction 2 proposal 3 requirement 4 expenditure 5 deterrent 


59. LUCRATIVE 

1 unprofitable 2 parsimonious 3 emollient 4 tedious 5 economical 


60. AUGMENT 

1 conciliate 2 pollute 3 diminish 4 repress 5 exhaust 


STOP. WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS 

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7 


251 


PART III 


ANALOGIES 
Directions and Samples 


In this test you will be asked to find certain relationships between words. You 
will have a number of sentences to read; in each sentence you will have one pair 
of words, such as NIGHT and dark , which have the same relationship as another pair 
of words, such as DAY and light . 

Read the following sentence: 

During the NIGHT it is dark , but during the DAY it is light . 

Notice that "night" is related to "dark” in the same way that "day” is related to 
"light”, so we may say that 

NIGHT is to dark as DAY is to light . 

Now look at this one: 

You READ a book and LISTEN to music . 

Here you can see that 

READ is to book as LISTEN is to music . 

In the question labeled K below, you are to select the one of the five numbered 
words which best completes the thought. 

K. READ is to book as LISTEN is to 

1 music £ air 3 pencil 4 newspaper 5 platform 

The correct answer is "music", or number 1. Notice on the answer sheet , in the 
section labeled "ANALOGIES — Samples", that space 1 has been blacked in, opposite 
the letter K. 

What is the correct answer to the following question? 

L. GLOVE is to hand as HAT is to 

1 face 2 fingers 3 forehead 4 body 5 head 

A GLOVE is worn on the hand, and a HAT is worn on the head ; so head , or number 5, 
is the correct answer. Show the answer by blacking in the space under 5, opposite 
the letter L, on the answer sheet. Do this now. 

Find the answers to the following questions yourself; record your answers on the 
answer sheet . 

M. FISH is to swim as BIRD is to 

1 air 2“7Iy 3 feathers 4 ride 5 wings 

N. WATER is to sponge as INK is to 

1 pen 2 bottle 3 write 4 blotter 5 desK 

O. THERMOMETER is to temperature as CLOCK Is to 

1 month 2 heat 3 time 4 hand 5 dial 

Now check your answers as I give the correct ones to you. 

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 


252 


8 


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If .you made any mistakes, erase your wrong answers completely , and then mark your 
sheet correctly. 

In the test on the following pages you will have more questions like the ones you 
have Just done. Answer each question carefully, but if you are not sure, make the 
best guess that you can. 

If you should finish before time is called, go back and check your answers. 


DO NOT. TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL "READY - BEGIN" IS GIVEN. 


9 


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253 




ANALOGIES 


Tost Questions 

Mark only on separate answer sheet. 


61. 

62. 

63. 

64. 

65. 

66 . 

67. 

68 . 

69. 

70. 

71. 

72. 

73. 

74. 

75. 

76. 

77. 

78. 

79. 


AIRPLANE is to air as BOAT is to 

1 fish 2 water 3 sail 4 oar 5 captain 

AIR is to breathe as WATER is to 

1 wash 2 swim 3 drink 4 flow 5 dive 

TRACK is to train as ROAD is to 

1 automobiTe 2 country 3 tractor 4 concrete 5 travel 


MAN is to food as MOTOR is to 

1 automobile 2 gasoline 3 starter 4 grease 

ERASER is to pencil mark as SOAP is to 

1 bath 2 dirt 3 water 4 cleanliness 


5 driver 


CREW is to men as FLEET is to 

1 destroyers 2 officers 3 seas 

TACK is to nail as NAIL is to 
1 spike 2 hammer 3 bolt 


SEEP is to gush as SPRINKLE is to 
pour 


gush 

1 drown 2 pour 3 dip 4 tumble 


GIANT is to dwarf as BOULDER is to 

4 sand 


5 skin 

4 ships 5 seapower' 
4 wedge 5 screw 
5 overflow 
5 pebble 


1 man 2 rock 3 mountain 

SAPLING is to tree as CHILD is to 

1 adult 2 growth 3 maturity 4 youth 5 infant 

FEAT is to self-satisfaction as BLUNDER is to 

1 silence 2 excuse 3 grumbling 4 embarrassment 5 ridicule 

BATTLE is to Navy as GAME is to 


1 player 


college 3 skill 4 competition 5 team 


BLOCKADE is to commerce as TOURNIQUET Is to 

1 limb 2 wound 3“hleeding 4 first aid 5 bandages 


TRUCK is to utility as LIMOUSINE Is to 

1 wealth 2 transportation 3 ornamentation 

HAND is to finger as FOOT is to 

1 shoe 2 ground 3 ankle 4 leg 5 toe 

UMBRELLA Is to rain as HELMET is to 

1 head 2 shrapnel 3 poison gas 4 protection 

HOUSE is to architect as AUTOMOBILE is to 


4 expense 5 luxury 


5 firearms 


1 mechanic 2 manufacturer 3 owner 


WILDERNESS is to houses as CONTENTMENT is to 
1 Joy 2 poverty 3 troubles 4 pleasures 


4 designer 5 driver 
5 duties 


CUT is to break as EXACT is to 

1 distorted 2 mistaken 3 disjoined 4 approximate 5 unskillful 


10 

254 


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80. 

81. 

82. 

83. 

84. 

85. 

86 . 

87. 

88 . 

89. 

90. 

91. 

92. 

93. 

94. 

95. 

96. 

97. 

98. 

99. 

100 . 


WAGES is to work as IMPRISONMENT is to 

1 criminal 5" justice 3 crime 4 reform 5 punishment 

ILLNESS is to symptom as GUILT is to 

1 proof 2 evidence 3 misdeed 4 witness 5 conscience 

EXPERIENCE is to memory as INJURY is to 

1 cure 2 salve 3 pain 4 scar 5 revenge 

POLL TAX is to voting as TARIFF is to 

1 government 2 industry 3 taxation 4 amusements 5 imports 

WATER is to thirst as SUCCESS is to 

1 ambition 2 theory 3 failure 4 ability 5 opportunity 

PERFORMANCE is to applause as CHARACTER is to 

1 respect 2 training 3 actions 4 appearance 5 self-esteem 

HOE is to weeds as CANNON is to 

1 bullets 2 battle 3 enemy 4 battlefield 5 destruction 

TEACHING is to ignorance as FIRE is to 

1 cold 2 heat 3 fuel 4 temperature 5 boiler 

FLUID is to strainer as NEWS is to 

1 public 2 opinion 3 analysis 4 censorship 5 newspaper 

BUILDING is to plans as BOOK is to 

1 outline 2 illustrations 3 preface 4 topic 5 review 

FAMILY is to home as FLEET is to 

1 ocean 2 harbor 3 base 4 flagship 5 native land 

BREAKDOWN is to repairs as DELINQUENCY is to 

1 rehabilitation ^punishment 3 amnesty 4 obedience 5 integrity 

SOW is to reap as PRACTICE is to* 

1 exert 2 compete 3 finish 4 prepare 5 excel 

MATCH is to flame as TALENT is to 

1 effort 2 achievement 3 fame 4 training 5 ability 

SUCCEED is to opportunity as ENTER is to 

1 encouragement 2 room 3 key 4 trickery 5 challenge 

MONTH is to time as INCH Is to 

1 ruler 2 measure 3 quantity 4 foot 5 length 

NEATNESS is to disorder as GOVERNMENT is to 

1 freedom 2 citizens 3 opposition 4 anarchy 5 fascism 

FUEL is to fire as ENERGY is to 

1 strength 2 inspiration 3 activity 4 health 5 purpose 

PRAIRIE is to garden as FOREST is to 

1 trees 2 jungle 3 lumber 4 field 5 orchard 

FABRIC is to thread as KNOWLEDGE is to 

1 fact 2 intelligence 3 instruction 4 belief 5 judgment 

CHICK is to omelette as CALF is to 

1 beef 2 hay 3 cream 4 cheese 5 shoes 


STOP. WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. 


11 


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255 





















UNITED STATES NAVY GENERAL CLASSIFICATION TEST 


H ui 
O to 


o 

z 

as 

a 

e 


q 

bJ 

s t 

5 -i 

J z 

s 8 

u 


COMPLETION 


SAMPLES 


NAVPERS 16501 



BEGIN TEST HERE 


21! ! B ii H 

1 2 3 4 5 

22 !j fi I | B 

23 il B B ii I 

1 2 3 4 5 

24 ii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

25 ii ii ii ii J 

26ii R fi B B 

1 2 3 4 5 

27 ii ii ii ii ii 

12345 12345 

3 if ii ii ii ii 28 ii ii ii ii ii 

12345 12345 

4 ii ii ii ii ii 29 ii ii ii ii ii 

12345 12345 

5 8 ii ii ii- ii 30 ii ii ii ii ii 


1 2 3 4 5 


1 ii 


1 2 3 4 5 


1 2 

6 8 ii 

1 2 

7 i! ii 
sii B 

1 2 

98 ii 

1 2 


345 


345 

ii ii ii 

345 


345 


345 


1 2 3 4 5 


3 4 5 


12 ii B 

1 2 

13 ii ii 

14 ii 8 

1 2 

15 ii ii 

16 ii ii 

17 8 i 


3 4 5 


3 4 5 


3 4 5 


3 4 5 


3 4 5 


1 2 

19 ii ii 

1 2 

20 ii ii 


3 4 


OPPOSITES 


SAMPLES 
1 2 3 4 5 

f ii I ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

cii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

h ii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

iii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

j ii ii ii ii ii 


BEGIN TEST HERE 


36 ii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

37 ii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

38 8 B B B 

3911 n i 

40 ii B 8 ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

41 ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

42 ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

43 ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

44 ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

45 ii ii ii ii ii 


1 2 3 4 5 

46 ii ii ii 

47 ii 

48 ii 
1 

49 ii 
1 

50 ii 
1 

51 ii 

52 ii 


2 3 4 5 


2 3 4 5 


2 3 


4 5 

5: U 


2 3 4 5 


2 3 4 5 


2 3 4 5 


1 2 3 4 5 

53 ii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

54 ii 8 ii ii 


1 2 3 4 5 


55 


31 8 8 8 ii I 56 ii 

32 ii ii 8 i i 57 ii 


2 3 4 5 


2 3 4 5 


33 ii g ii ii ii ssii 

34 H i B ! II 59 ii 

1 2 3 4 5 1 

35 ii ii ii ii ii §0 ii 


ANALOGIES 


SAMPLES 

1 2 3 4 5 


k! 


1 2 3 4 5 

ii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

M ii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

Nii ii ii ii ii 

1 2 3 4 5 

oii ii ii ii ii 


BEGIN TEST HERE 


6i ii I 8 8 j si 8 8 Ii 

62ii B I i B 823 B 8 B 

63ii B B B B 838 i R B 

64 ii I 8 B i 84^ i i 8 

65 ii i ii i ii 85 ii fi ii ii 


66 ii 

67 

68 ii 

69 

70 i 

71 

72 i 

73 i 

74 

75 ii 

76 ii 

77 ii 

78 ii 

79 ii 


2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3-4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 5 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 

ii ii ii 

2 3 4 


5 12 3 4 

8 se ii 8 fi ii 

j 87 B 8 8 | 

ii 88 ii ii 8 8 

5 12 3 4 

8 89H | | | 

ii 90 ii ii ii ii 

5 12 3 4 

ii 91 ii ii ii ii 

5 12 3 4 

ii 92 ii ii ii jj 

ii 93ii j 8 i 

ii 94 ii ii ii 8 

5 12 3 4 

ij 95 ii ii ii ii 

5 12 3 4 

ii 96 ii ii ii ii 

5 12 3 4 

ii 97 ii ii ii ii 


98 8 | | | 

99 ij j j j 

1008 8* 8* 8 


IBM FORM I.T.S. 1000 A 1043 RE 


256 


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UNITED STATES NAVY 


TESTS OP HEADING 
AND 

ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


FORM I 


N AVPERS 16510 


1943 


NOTICE: 

This test is not to be shown, or the contents revealed, to unauthorized persons in or 
out of the Navy, or reproduced in whole or in part without written authorization from 
the Bureau of Naval Personnel of the United States Navy. This test booklet must be 
surrendered with the answer sheet at the close of the test. 


DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO. 

RESTRICTED 


257 


TEST I 


READING 
Directions &nd Samples 


In this test you will be given several paragraphs to read. Following each para¬ 
graph are a number of incomplete sentences, each of whioh is followed by five 
phrases lettered from (a) to (e). One of the five phrases added to the in¬ 
complete sentence makes a statement which according to the paragraph is true. 
After reading the paragraph, you are to decide which phrase makes each statement 
true. Then black in the space on the separate answer sheet which corresponds 
to that phrase. 

Read the following sample paragraph; then answer question A. 


After a can of paint has been opened and the paint 
partly used, the can should be covered and kept as 
air-tight as possible to prevent a paint scum from 
forming on the surface. If scum forms, the paint 
should be strained through a fine-mesh wire screen 
or cheesecloth. _ 


A* To prevent scum from forming in a partly-used can 
of paint, one should 

(a) keep the paint free from dirt. 

(b) fill the can up with water. 

(c) stir the paint well before storing. 

(d) keep the can tightly covered. 

(e) make sure that the can is more than half full. 

The paragraph tells you that the can should be covered and kept as air-tight as 
possible to prevent scum from forming; so (d) is the phrase which completes the 
statement correctly. Therefore (d) has been blacked in on the separate answer 
sheet opposite A in the section labeled ”Reading — Samples”. 

Now answer question B and black in the space in line B on the answer sheet which 
corresponds to the pErase which completes the statement correctly, according 
to the paragraph. 

B. The method of removing scum from paint is 

(a) to stir the paint thoroughly. 

(b) to pour the scum off. 

(c) to strain the paint through a wire screen. 

(d) to skim the scum off with a putty knife. 

(e) not discussed in the paragraph. 


2 DO NOT STOP. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. 


258 


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Answer question C and black in the space on the answer sheet which corresponds 
to the correct pErase. 

C. The method of thinning paint is 

(a) to mix it with turpentine• 

(b) to mix it with linseed oil. 

(c) to mix it with white lead. 

(d) to mix it with water. 

(e) not discussed in the paragraph. 

Now check your answers while I give the correct ones to you. 


ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

When the signal is given, you will have more paragraphs to read and questions 
to answer. Mark each answer in the proper space on the separate answer sheet. 
Mark only one answer to each question. Do not make any marks in this booklet. 
Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 

Answer every question. If you are not sure of the answer, make the best guess 
you can. 


DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL 
"READY BEGIN" IS GIVEN 


3 


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259 



READING 


Teat Questions % 

Mark only on separate answer sheet. 


Cruisers have light armor, carry guns of moderate size, and are able to 
travel at high speed* Cruisers whose largest guns are greater than 6 inches 
are known as heavy cruisers, while those whose largest guns are 6 inches or 
less are known as light cruisers. All cruisers have very large fuel tanks in 
order to maintain high speed for a long time, A cruiser is divided into 
numerous water-tight compartments, so that a hole in one part of the ship will 
flood only a part of the ship. 


1. Cruisers whose largest guns are 6-inch guns are 

(a) light cruisers. 

(b) medium cruisers. 

(c) heavy cruisers. 

(d) auxiliaries. 

(e) not described in the paragraph. 

2. Cruisers have 

(a) heavy armor, high speed, and large guns. 

(b) light armor, low speed, and medium guns. 

(c) light armor, high speed, and small guns. 

(d) heavy armor, high speed, and medium guns. 

(e) light armor, high speed, and medium guns. 

3. Cruisers are able to maintain high speed for a long time because 

(a) they have a wide beam. 

(b) they are divided into many small air-filled compartments. 

(c) they have only three gun turrets. 

(d) they carry a large supply of fuel oil. 

(e) they do not have armor plate. 

4. In order to make it more difficult to sink cruisers, they are 

(a) equipped with thick armor. 

(b) armed with large guns. 

(c) fitted with mine-laying equipment. 

(d) powered by turbines with reduction gear. 

(e) divided into sections that can be flooded without affecting other 
parts. 


260 


4 


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After the setting-up exercises, the men are dismissed and then they must 
get into uniform for the drill which is to follow. Each man should have a 
uniform handy, either in his bag or locker, so that he can change into the proper 
uniform for drill in a few minutes. When drill call is sounded, men go quickly 
to their stations for drill and keep silence. A slow and noisy division is 
always inefficient. Drills are held to train all hands into an efficient 
fighting unit. All drills are for this one purpose. If you fail to act in 
drill as you should in an emergency, you will not know what to do when an 
emergency comes. 


5. When you hear the drill call, you should 

(a) report to your officer. 

(b) put on your drill uniform. 

(c) remain where you are and keep silence. 

(d) find out where the drill is to be. 

(e) go at once to your station. 

6. Which one of the following is not mentioned in the paragraph? 

(a) fighting. 

(b) punishment, 

(c) exercises. 

(d) drills. 

(e) uniforms. 

7. If a division is slow and noisy 

(a) it will be dismissed. 

(b) it is not neatly dressed. 

(c) it will behave better in an emergency. 

(d) it cannot drill well. 

(e) the men will be punished. 

8. The only thing the paragraph tells you about the clothing you wear at 
setting-up exercises Is that 

(a) it Is not drill uniform. 

(b) it should always be clean and neat. 

(c) you should be able to find it quickly. 

(d) it allows you to move freely. 

(e) it is kept in a locker. 

9. The most important thing about your drills is that they 

(a) make you more alert. 

(b) make you strong. 

(c) train you for battle. 

(d) are required for all enlisted men. 

(e) teach you everything you should know. 


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5 


261 


If you neglect to obey an order or refvise to obey It, your chances of 
being sustained are less than one in a thousand* If an officer or petty 
officer orders you to do a certain thing, and before it is done, another 
officer or petty officer orders you to do something else, it is your duty to 
inform th© officer or petty officer giving you the second order that you have 
had previous orders, telling him what the orders are and who gave them to you* 
The officer or petty officer who gave you the second order will then decide 
whether you are to carry out the first orders or the second orders. 


10. The paragraph talks mainly about 

(a) the importance of good judgment. 

(b) how officers give orders. 

(c) respect for officers. 

(d) obedience to orders. 

(e) self-reliance. 


11 . 


There are specifio instructions in the paragraph on 

(a) courteous behavior to officers. 

(b) what to do if you receive conflicting orders. 

(c) how to carry out an order. 

(d) th© decisions you will be expected to make. 

(e) how to decide whether the first or second officer is right. 


12. Should you ever tell an officer giving a second order that it conflicts 
with previous orders? 

(a) yes, if it does not interfere with the immediate following out of 
orders which have been given by another officer. 

(b) only if he has a lower rank than the officer giving the first order. 

(c) only If the officer asks you. 

(d) the paragraph does not answer this question. 

(e) yes, you should always do this when you receive conflicting orders. 


13. You will be justified if you 

(a) occasionally do not obey an order. 

(b) disobey an order only once In a thousand times. 

(c) decide not to obey an order because you have received a second order 
before you carried out the first. 

(d) always obey the second of two orders. 

(e) neglect to obey an order because another officer tells you not to obey. 

14. Your responsibility to the officer who gives the first of two successive 
orders 

(a) is maintained until his order is carried out. 

(b) includes making him a report of the conflicting order. 

(c) is not specifically mentioned in this paragraph. 

(d) is discharged at the moment when a second order is received. 

(e) cannot be transferred to the officer issuing the second order. 


262 


6 


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The highest deck extending from bow to stern is called the main deck* A 
partial deck above the main deck at the bow only and not covering amidships is 
called the forecastle deck* A partial deck at the stern only and not covering 
amidships is called the poop deck* A complete deck below the main deck is 
called the second deck. Where there are two or more complete decks below the 
main deck, they are called second deck, third deck, fourth deck, etc. A partial 
deck above the lowest complete deck and below the main deck is called a half 
deck. Decks which for protective purposes are fitted with plating of extra 
strength and thickness are defined for technical purposes as protective and 
splinter in addition to their regular names. Where there is only one such deck, 
it is defined as protective, and where there are two, that having the thicker 
plating is defined as protective, and that having the thinner plating is defined 
as splinter, in addition to the regular names. 


15. The second deck is 

(a) above the main deck. 

(b) below the main deck. 

(c) not defined in this paragraph. 

(d) not a complete deck. 

(e) so-called because it is protective. 

16. A partial deck above the main deck covering all except the bow is 

(a) called the upper deck. 

(b) not discussed in this paragraph. 

(c) called the poop deck. 

(d) called the second deck. 

(e) always a protective deck. 

17. A splinter deck is 

(a) not discussed in this paragraph. 

(b) not for protective purposes. 

(c) a deck with extra plating but less heavily armored than the protective 
deck. 

(d) the same as the second deck. 

(e) a half deck which is usually but not always heavily armored and which 
is above the main deck. 


18. The main deck is 

(a) always armor-plated. 

(b) always a splinter deck. 

(c) below the second deck. 

(d) the largest partial protective deck. 

(e) always a complete deck. 


19. A deck extending from bow to stern above the main deck 

(a) is usually but not always for protective purposes. 

(b) is the forecastle deck. 

(c) does not exist. 

(d) is armor-plated. 

(e) is called the protective second deck. 

20. If there were two decks of extra strength and thickness and that with the 
thinner plating was a complete deck immediately below the main deck, it 
would be called the 

(a) protective poop deck. 

(b) forecastle deck. 

(c) splinter half deck. 

(d) splinter second deck. 

(e) protective lower deck. 


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263 


When a magnetized needle is mounted on a horizontal axis so that the 
angle between the needle and a horizontal plane can be measured, it is called 
a dipping needle• The amount of dip varies according to the place on the earth 
where the dip is measured* In other words, the needle aots as though the earth 
Itself were a huge magnet with a north and a south pole* At the north magnetic 
pole the needle will point directly downward* On a line roughly halfway between 
the north and south magnetic poles, the needle will be horizontal; this line la 
called the magnetic equator. At all other points the needle will be neither 
horizontal nor vertical, and the amount of dip will depend on the distance from 
the magnetic poles. However, the north magnetic pole of the earth is not 
identical with the north geographic pole, but Is about 20 degrees south of it, 
a degree being equal to about 70 miles* When traveling on the earth's surface 
many points are found where the inclination or dip of the needle is the same. 

A line drawn through these points on a map Is called an isoclinic line* The 
Isoolinic line drawn through points of zero dip, that is, where the needle Is 
horizontal. Is called an aclinic line. 


21* The statement that a map of the world indicating Isoolinic lines would show 
only one aclinic line 

(a) is false* 

(b) cannot be made on the basis of information given above* 

(c) can be Inferred from Information contained in the paragraph* 

(d) means that there is only one point on the earth's surface where a 
dipping needle would read zero. 

(e) implies that the aclinic line and the geographic equator are the 
same* 

22* A dipping needle at the north geographic pole would 

(a) point in a horizontal direction. 

(b) point in a nearly vertical direction. 

(c) point straight downward. 

(d) show about the same dip as at the equator* 

(e) show a small angle with the horizontal. 

25* Isoclinic lines on a map of the world would 

(a) have a general direction which cannot be even approximately 
determined from the above paragraph. 

(b) tend to run north and south. 

(c) tend to run east and west. 

(d) be very far apart. 

(e) cross one another in an unpredictable way. 

24. The magnetic equator 

(a) is the same as the geographlo equator. 

(b) passes through the north and south magnetic poles. 

(c) is an aclinic line. 

(d) is neither an aclinic nor an lsocllnlo line* 

(e) is not defined in the above paragraph. 

25. It can be Inferred from the above paragraph that the magnetic and geo¬ 
graphic equators 

(a) will Intersect at only one point. 

(b) are identical. 

(c) are parallel lines. 

(d) bear no fixed relationship to each other. 

(e) will intersect at two points. 


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Electric current which is continually changing its magnitude and revers¬ 
ing its direction of flow in a conductor is called alternating current; and 
may be detected either by measuring the amount of current or by measuring the 
electro-motive-force (e.m.f.) exerted by it* When either the alternating 
current or the e*m*f* has passed from zero to its maximum value in one direction 
back to zero, then to its maximum value in the other direction and back to zero, 
it is said to have completed a cycle. The time required for the current or 
e.m.f. to pass through one complete cycle is called a period. When the periods 
are all of the same length, the current produced is called periodic current. 

If the current goes through the complete cycle 60 times per second, it is said 
to have a frequency of 60 cycles. Each complete cycle may be thought of as con¬ 
taining or measuring 360 degrees. A half-cycle or the change from zero to max¬ 
imum in either direction and back to zero would be 180 degrees. If the current 
reaches a maximum before the e.m.f., the current is said to be leading the e.m.f 
in phase. If the current reaches a maximum after the e.m.f., the current is 
said to lag in phase. In either case, they are said to be out of phase. 


26. A current is not called alternating unless 

(a) reversals of direction of flow are instantaneous. 

(b) its changes in size or amount are large. 

(c) its magnitude is always changing. 

(d) its frequency is 60 cycles per second. 

(e) it is in phase with its e.m.f. 

27. Current whioh is continually reversing its direction of flow but which 
requires a different length of time to complete each cycle 

(a) is called periodic alternating current. 

(b) Is not alternating current. 

(c) does not exist. 

(d) is alternating but not periodic current. 

(e) is called direct current. 

28. If a periodic alternating current has a frequency of 100 cycles, the 
period for this current 

(a) will be 1/100 of a second. 

(b) cannot be determined without additional information. 

(c) cannot be inferred solely from information given in the paragraph. 

(d) will be one hundred seconds. 

(e) is sometimes, but not necessarily, constant. 

29. If the current and e.m.f. in a conductor are in such a relationship that one 
reaches a maximum in one direction when the other is at a maximum In the 
opposite direction, then 

(a) the current and e.m.f. are said to be in phase. 

(b; it can be concluded that no current will flow in the conductor. 

(c) they can be said to be 90 degrees apart in phase. 

(d) the current is leading the e.m.f. by three-fourths of a cycle. 

(e) the current and e.m.f. are 180 degrees apart in phase. 

30. The statement that one-half of a cycle is called an alternation 

(a) is not true. 

(b) is not to be derived from the above paragraph. 

(c) means that the change in one direction Is always equal in amount to 
the ohange in the opposite direction. 

(d) could be inferred from statements made in the paragraph. 

(e) means that the number of cycles per second la equal to the frequency. 


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265 



TEST II 


ARITHMETICAL REASONING 
Directions and Samples 


In this test you will be given some problems In arithmetic. Following each 
problem are five answers, lettered from (a) to (e); one of these answers is 
correct. Your task Is to solve each problem and blaok In the spaoe on the 
separate answer sheet which corresponds to the answer you think Is correct. 
The following problems are samples. 

D. A boy bought a 25^ War Stamp every day for 4 days. How much 
did he invest in Stamps? 

(a) $0.50 (b) $1.00 (c) $1.50 (d) $2.00 (e) $2.50 


The correct answer to the problem is $1.00, which is answer (b). Notice in 
row D on the separate answer sheet In the section labeled "Arithmetical 
Reasoning — Samples" that space (b) has already been blacked In. 

Now work the next problem, and in row E on the separate answer sheet black 
In the space which corresponds to the correct answer. 

E. A ball team played 27 games and won 16 of them. How many did 
it lose? 

(a) 1 (b) 7 (c) 10 (d) 11 (e) 43 


Solve the next problem, and in row F on the answer sheet black in the space 
which corresponds to the correct answer. 

F. If an airplane makes a trip of 500 miles in 2 hours, what is its 
average rate in miles per hour? 

(a) 250 (b) 251 (c) 498 (d) 502 (e) 1,000 


Now check your answers as I give the correct ones to you. 


ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

When the signal is given you will work more problems of the same kind. Mark 
each answer in the proper space on the separate answer sheet. Mark only one 
answer to each problem. Do not make any marks in this booklet. Work as 
fast and as accurately as you can. 


Work every problem. If you are not sure, mark the answer you think is correct. 


STOP HERE. DO NOT GO TO THE NEXT PAGE 
UNTIL THE SIGNAL "READY BEGIN" IS GIVEN. 11 


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267 



ARITHMETICAL REASONING 


Test Problems 


Solve each problem. Then black in the space corresponding to the correct 

answer. 

31. The U. S. Navy proposes to have 700 combatant ships by a given date. 

If the Navy has 300 of the ships now, how many more will be needed? 

(a) 300 (b) 400 (c) 200 (d) 500 (e) 1,000 

32. During World War I, keels were laid at Hog Island at the rate of one 
every 5 days. At that rate, how many keels were laid in 275 days? 

(a) 51 (b) 55 (c) 75 (d) 270 (e) 1375 

33. A speed of 6 miles per minute is equivalent to how many miles per hour? 

(a) 10 (b) 60 (c) 100 (d) 240 (e) 360 

34. A $50 war bond costs $37.50. How many of these bonds may be bought 

for $150? 

(a) 1 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 4 (e) 5 

35. X*s bank account is overdrawn $20.50. How much must be deposit to have 
a balance of $100 in his favor in the bank? 

(a) $79.50 (b) $80.50 (c) $119.50 (d) $120.50 (e) $125.00 

36. A train leaving New York at 11:15 A.M. is scheduled to make the trip to 
Philadelphia in 1 hour and 53 minutes. When is it due to arrive? 

(a) 12:08 P.M. (b) 12:38 P.M. (c) 12:41 P.M. (d) 1:03 P.M. (e) 1:08 P.M. 

37. What will be the cost for gasoline on a trip of 180 miles if the car 
averages 15 miles per gallon and gasoline costs 20 cents a gallon? 

(a) $1.35 (b) $1.67 (c) $2.40 (d) $2.50 (e) $54.00 

38. London and Cologne, 330 miles apart by air, will be how many Inches 
apart on a map whose scale is 50 miles to one inch? 

(a) .15 (b) 3.1 (c) 5 (d) 6.6 (e) 16.50 

39. A "plehe" makes $780 a year at Annapolis. If he receives $300 
immediately, and the rest Is paid in 12 equal monthly installments, 
how much is each monthly installment? 

(a) $40.00 (b) $45.50 (c) $57.60 (d) $65.00 (e) $90.00 

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40. A destroyer travelled for two of three hours at full speed and then 
reduced its speed by 15 nautical miles during the third hour. If the 
total distance covered was 81 nautical miles what was its full speed 
in nautical miles per hour? 

(a) 22 (b) 27 (c) 30 (d) 32 (e) 35 


41. A destroyer division consists of 4 ships. Two divisions plus one 
leader make a squadron. Pour squadrons make a flotilla. How many 
ships are there in a flotilla? 

(a) 20 (b) 32 (c) 33 (d) 36 (e) 40 


42. A propeller, with an initial speed of 25 revolutions per second, 
decreases its speed by 4 revolutions per second each 10 seconds. 
How many revolutions per second will it be making at the end of 
30 seconds? 

(a) 0 (b) 1 (o) 4 (d) 13 (e) 23f 

3 

43. In an armor-piercing shell Z% of the total weight of the shell is 
bursting charge. What is the weight, in pounds, of the bursting 
charge in a 2,100 pound shell? 

(a) 7 (b) 63 (c) 300 (d) 630 (e) 700 


44. A cruiser can fire a total of 165 rounds a minute from its 15 six-inch 
guns. If six of its guns are "knocked out” how many rounds per minute 
can be fired? 

(a) 66 (b) 75 (c) 90 (d) 99 (e) 135 

45. If 3 parts sand by weight are mixed with 4 parts cement, what fraction 

of the total dry mixture is sand? 

(a) | (b) * (c) 1 (d) s (e) | 

46. Carrier A has 80 planes and carrier B has 75 planes. If & of the 

i s 

^ of the planes on B are disabled, how many planes 
are left to protect the carriers? 

(a) 45 (b) 55 (c) 100 (d) 110 (e) 135 


47. If, on the average, 4% of shipped fruit is spoiled, how many boxes 
.should be shipped if 48 boxes of good fruit are wanted? 

(a) 4&| (b) 49 (c) 50 (d) 52 (e) 60 


48. How many yards of material 36 inches wide will it take to black out a 
window measuring 2 yards wide and 3 yards long? (Assume no overlap 
of material.) 

(a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 5 (d) 6 (e) 6$ 

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269 


49. In 1937, 6*2 cents of the railroad dollar went for fuel. What was the 
fuel cost per thousand dollars income? 

(a) $.62 (b) $6.20 (c) $62.00 (d) $161.00 (e) $620.00 


50. The number of sailors in a certain station increased from 5 men to 
30,000 men in 5 weeks. What was the average increase per week in the 
number of sailors? 

(a) 1,200 (b) 5,991 (c) 5,999 (d) 6,000 (e) 6,001 


51. If figs contain 78# water by weight, how much will 50 pounds of fresh 
figs weigh when dried? (Assume all water is removed.) 

(a) 10 lbs. (b) 11 lbs. (c) 13 lbs. (d) 39 lbs. (e) 40 lbs. 


52. A gap of 1 5/8 inches is to be filled in with four layers of metal. 
What will be the thickness in inches of the fourth layer if the 
other three are respectively 7/8 inch, l/3 inch, and .25 inch thick? 

(a) 1/3 (b) 1/4 (c) 1/6 (d) 1/8 (e) .25 


53. The capacity of a standard coach is 80. If a troop train of 10 standard 
ooaches is 20# overloaded, how many more cars would be needed to 
accommodate all the troops without overloading? 

(a) 1.6 (b) 2 (c) 2.5 (d) 4 (e) 6 


54. The approximate weight in pounds of a shell is equal to one-half the 
cube of the diameter (measured in inches) of the gun. What must the 
diameter of a gun be to fire a shell weighing 32 pounds? 

(a) 2 $/Z~ In. (b) 4 in. (c) 4 -^Tin. (d) 8 in. (a) 21^ In. 

55. Water pressure P (in pounds per square foot) varies directly with depth h 
(measured in feet), according to the foimula P • hDg, where g = .003. 

If the density D of water la 64 pounds per cubic foot, what is the 
pressure in pounds per square foot on a diver 20 feet below the surface? 

(a) .01 (b) .38 (c) 3.84 (d) 9.6 (e) 104.2 


56. Fifty-four ships of 5,000 tons each are required to carry 2 British 
divisions. If a 25,000 ton ship holds 5 times as much as a 5,000 
ton ship, how many 25,000 ton ships are needed to oarry 15 British 
divisions? 

(a) 36 (b) 81 (o) 324 (d) 405 (e) 648 


57. 


A plane makes 
it have taken 

(a) 4 


a trip of 1,800 miles in 6 hours. How many hours would 
if the speed had been increased by 1 ? 

3 

(b) 4i (o) 8 (d) 3 (e) 3i 


270 


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58 


• A patrol bomber flies due south from its base for 2 hours at 300 miles 
per hour and then due east for 4 hours at 200 miles per hour. At how 
many miles per hour must he fly in going directly back to base to 
reach there in 5 hours? 

(a) 200 (b) 250 (c) 250VI0 (d) 266 2/3 (e) 280 


59. Countries X, Y, and Z were to be allotted all planes produced in November 
in the ratio 2:3:5. On that plan the quota for country X was 60 planes. 
If the allotment ratio for these planes were changed to 1:1:1, how many 
more planes would X receive? 

(a) 60 (b) 20 (c) 30 (d) 40 (e) 90 


60. Ship A leaves port at 12:00 noon and approaches position X, 240 miles 
away, at 12 miles per hour. Ship B, 1080 miles from X, leaves 2 hours 
later. At how many miles per hour must ship B travel in order to 
reach position X at the same time as ship A? 

(a) 49_L (b) 54 (c) 60 (d) 63 (e) 81 

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UNITED STATES NAVY 


TESTS OP READING 
AND 

ARITHMETICAL REASONING 

FORM 2 

N A V P E R S-16512 

1943 


NOTICE: 

This test is not to be shown, or the contents revealed, to 
unauthorized persons in or out of the Navy, or reproduced in 
whole or in part without written authorization from the Bureau 
of Naval Personnel of the United States Navy. This test book¬ 
let must be surrendered with the answer sheet at the close of 
the test. 


DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO 

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273 


TEST I 


READING 
Directions and Samples 


In this test you will be given several paragraphs to read* Following each para¬ 
graph are a number of incomplete sentences, each of which is followed by five 
phrases lettered from (a) to (e). One of the five phrases added to the in¬ 
complete sentence makes a statement which according to the paragraph is true. 
After reading the paragraph, you are to decide which phrase makes each statement 
true. Then black in the space on the separate answer sheet which corresponds 
to that phrase. 

Read the following sample paragraph; then answer question A. 

After a can of paint has been opened and the paint 
partly used, the can should be covered and kept as 
air-tight as possible to prevent a paint scum from 
forming on the surface. If scum forms, the paint 
should be strained through a fine-mesh wire screen 
or cheesecloth. 

A. To prevent scum from forming in a partly-used can 
of paint, one should 

(a) keep the paint free from dirt. 

(b) fill the can up with water. 

(c) stir the paint well before storing. 

(d) keep the can tightly covered. 

(e) make sure that the can is more than half full. 

The paragraph tells you that the can should be covered and kept a3 air-tight as 
possible to prevent scum from forming; so (d) is the phrase which completes the 
statement correctly. Therefore (d) has been blacked in on the separate answer 
sheet opposite A in the section labeled ‘‘Reading — Samples'*. 

Now answer question B and black in the space in line B on the answer sheet which 
corresponds to the phrase which completes the statement correctly, according 
to the paragraph. 

B. The method of removing scum from paint is 

(a) to stir the paint thoroughly. 

(b) to pour the scum off. 

(c) to strain the paint through a wire screen. 

(d) to skim the scum off with a putty knife. 

(e) not discussed In the paragraph. 


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Answer question C and black in the space on the answer sheet which corresponds 
to the correct phrase. 

C. The method of thinning paint is 

(a) to mix it with turpentine. 

(b) to mix it with linseed oil. 

(c) to mix it with white lead. 

(d) to mix it with water. 

(e) not discussed in the paragraph. 

Now check your answers while I give the correct ones to you. 


ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

When the signal is given, you will have more paragraphs to read and questions 
to answer. Mark each answer in the proper space on the separate answer sheet. 
Mark only one answer to each question. Do not make any marks in this booklet. 
Work as fast and as accurately as you can. 

Answer every question. If you are not sure of the answer, make the best guess 
you can. 


DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL "READY - BEGIN W IS GIVEN. 


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275 



READING 


Test Questions 


Mark only on separate answer sheet* 


Success In battle, the primary aim in every military organization, re¬ 
quires implicit obedience to orders* It requires that men be trained to do 
habitually everything that must be done in battle when under the fire of the 
enemy. Briefly, discipline is the habit of obedience by which a man obeys an 
order naturally and without question, without stopping to consider whether he 
wants to obey it or not; he must learn to obey simply because the order comes 
from higher authority* 


1* Orders must be obeyed whenever 

(a) it is the sensible thing to do* 

(b) obedience protects the safety of others* 

(c) they are reasonable. 

(d) speed is essential. 

(e) they come from a person of higher rank. 

2. The subject of this paragraph is 

(a) the speed with which a man must learn to do his Job. 

(b) the way in which orders are given. 

(c) the necessity of doing immediately what you are told to do. 

(d) the consequences of disobedience. 

(e) the form of a military organization. 

3. In obeying an order, it is important to 

(a) disregard your own immediate wishes. 

(b) consider carefully whether the order should be obeyed 

(c) do it deliberately and cautiously. 

(d) know that the order was proper. 

(e) consider whether it involves danger to others. 

4. The final object of requiring instant obedience to orders is to 

(a) avoid argument. 

(b) maintain authority in the hands of the officers. 

(c) win battles. 

(d) enable men to get along with one another. 

(e) maintain military discipline. 


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An important task on a naval vessel is to supervise the firing of guns. 
This is the task of the chief fire-control officer (C.P.C.O.). The C.F.C.O. 
is in command of all subdivisions of the armament, but he normally performs 
only supervisory functions in connection with all but the main battery; the 
latter he directly controls. The fire-control tower is the C.F.C.O.’s battle 
station. This station is equipped with the necessary fire-control instruments 
for directing and observing the fire of the main battery. It is also equipped 
with the necessary communications so that the C.F.C.O. may at all times com¬ 
municate directly with the captain, with the officers in immediate control of 
the secondary, antiaircraft, and torpedo batteries, and with the officers in 
charge of subdivisions of the main battery, such as plotting-room officer, 
turret officers, and spotters. The C.F.C.O. keeps the captain informed as to 
the range and practicability of opening fire. He gives the commands "commence 
firing" and "cease firing," when directed by the captain. Prior to opening 
fire with the main battery he designates the fire distribution to be employed, 
the targets to be fired at, and the gun directors to be used. He supervises 
the salvo signals of the main battery and determines the rate of fire. 


5. This paragraph concerns mainly 

(a) the number of batteries that should be fired at a target. 

(b) the purpose of equipment in the fire-control tower. 

(c) the knowledge required by the C.F.C.O. 

(d) the function of the captain-in time of battle. 

(e) the duties of the C.F.C.O. 

6. The relationship between the C.F.C.O. and the captain is such that 

(a) it would be necessary for the captain to communicate with the 
C.F.C.O., but not the reverse. 

(b) two-way communication between C.F.C.O. and captain is absolutely 
necessary. 

(c) the captain gives the commands to commence and cease firing upon 
the advice of the C.F.C.O. 

(d) the captain determines the distribution of fire of the main battery. 

(e) the captain and C.F.C.O. have different duties so that one does not 

need to confer with the other. 

7. The correct description of what the C.F.C.O. does is that he 

(a) is in direct control of all the armament. 

(b) commands the ship during battle. 

(c) directs the handling of the ship. 

(d) supervises the use of all of the ship*s armament in battle. 

(e) operates the instruments used to observe the results of fire. 

8. One of the main duties of the C.F.C.O. Is to 

(a) name the targets to be fired at. 

(b) control the secondary battery fire. 

(c) operate the gun directors. 

(d) control the speed of the ship during battle. 

(e) plot the ship's course. 

9* The fire-control tower is evidently a kind of central office for 

(a) the plotting of the ship’s course. 

(b) the coordination of information regarding targets and available 
gun-power. 

(c) the direction of secondary battery fire only. 

(d) the spotting of the results of the fire. 

(e) officers in charge of the various batteries so that they may direct 
their batteries from it. 


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5 


277 


The on© great danger in a small boat when running before a surf (that is, 
traveling in the same direction as the breaking waves; is that of broaching-to, 
which means being thrown broadside-on in the surf. A boat broaches-to when 
running before the sea because she opposes little resistance to it and hence is 
carried before the wave. Broaching-to is most likely to occur when a boat is 
headed for shore, because the incoming waves or rollers, on reaching the boat, 
throw up the stern and as a consequence depress the bow. If she then has suffi¬ 
cient inertia (the greater the weight, the greater the inertia) to allow the wave 
to pass her, she will in succession pass through the descending, the horizontal, 
and the ascending positions as the crest of the wave passes successively her stern, 
her midships, and her bow. But if a boat on being caught by a heavy wave has not 
sufficient inertia to allow it to pass her, only the first of the three positions 
above described occurs. The stern is raised high in the air and the wave carries 
the boat before it on its front, sometimes with frightful velocity, and the boat 
may be thrown end-over-end or be turned broadside to the sea and capsized. 


10. In running before a sea, the part of the boat which is lifted first as a 
wave comes along 

(a) is the stern. 

(b) is the bow. 

(c) is the middle section. 

(d) can not be determined from the paragraph. 

(e) would depend on the size of the wave. 

11. According to the paragraph, a very light boat would 

(a) have great inertia because it would ride over the water and not be 
carried before it. 

(b) show little danger of capsizing when running through surf. 

(c) be difficult to handle in a calm sea. 

(d) have a large inertia because inertia is proportional to the square of 
the weight. 

(e) have very little inertia. 

12. In a boat running before the sea, there is danger of a boat f s broaching-to 
when 

(a) the boat is very heavy. 

(b) each wave passes the boat quickly by. 

(c) the waves are high but not breaking. 

(d) the wave pushes the boat ahead of it. 

(e) the sea is very deep. 

13. One result of an increase in the weight of the boat is to 

(a) increase the danger of broaching-to. 

(b) cause the boat to be affected to a greater extent by the wind. 

(c) make the boat more likely to sink. 

(d) make the boat more responsive to the force of the waves. 

(e) make it less likely that the boat will broach-to. 


14. The chief topic of the paragraph is 

(a) the effect of the weight of a boat on its maneuverability. 

(b) the method of preventing a boat from broaching-to. 

(c) the way to land a boat through heavy surf. 

(d) the action of heavy surf on a boat. 

(e) the power of heavy seas. 


15. 


Since a light boat running before a broken sea opposes little resistance to it, 

(a) the boat can travel faster than the breaking waves. 

(b) the waves are likely to break over the bow of the boat. 

(c) the waves are likely to break over the stern of the boat. 

(d) the boat may be pushed along rapidly by the front of the wave. 

(e) the boat travels so much more slowly than the waves that it is likely to 
capsize. 


e 


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Articles such as guns, furniture, and special tools which are part of 
the ship*s equipage or which make the ship manageable, habitable, and service¬ 
able as a naval vessel are called title-B articles. Lost or missing title-B 
articles are surveyed as soon as possible by an officer appointed by the 
commanding officer if the value of any one article does not exceed $100, or 
the total of identical articles does not exceed $100, and are surveyed by a 
board of three officers if values are greater* The survey officer or board makes 
a searching and exhaustive investigation of the circumstances and in every case 
determines the cause of the loss. When the loss is due to carelessness on the 
part of any person, the commanding officer will assign punishment as the case 
demands. Surveying officers or boards do not hold men responsible for loss 
due to casualties or stress of weather if witnesses can be found to prove the 
cause of loss. 


16. One situation mentioned in the paragraph in which men would not be held 
responsible for loss is when 

(a) the loss is due to negligence. 

(b) the loss is due to theft. 

(c) several men are responsible and when witnesses cannot be found to 
prove responsibility. 

(d) the loss is due to heavy seas if witnesses testify to this. 

(e) the loss is due to unavoidable deterioration through use. 

17. Lost or missing title-B articles not exceeding $100 in value are surveyed by 

(a) a Chief Petty Officer. 

(b) some officer with the rank of Lieutenant Commander or higher, who 
is appointed by the commanding officer. 

(c) a board of three officers. 

(d) an officer appointed by the commanding officer. 

(e) a board consisting of the commanding officer and t*o Junior officers. 

18. The paragraph states that a survey board investigates the loss of 

(a) all articles missing from the ship. 

(b) title-B articles which are valued at less than $100. 

(c) all title-B articles. 

(d) title-B articles valued at more than $100. 

(e) only those title-B articles lost due to negligence. 

19. When the loss of title-B articles has been established as due to careless¬ 
ness. 

(a) punishment is determined by the survey officer or board. 

(b) punishment usually consists of loss of pay. 

(c) punishment is assigned which is not described in the above paragraph. 

(d) articles are replaced by the man causing the loss. 

(e) articles are replaced only if valued at less than $100. 

20. The reason for the loss of title-B articles is 

(a) established only when an individual is responsible. 

(b) always determined by a board of officers. 

(c) always established no matter what the circumstances. 

(d) rarely successfully established. 

(e) not established when due to stress of weather. 


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279 


Even during the hottest periods of the year, the temperature rise of the 
water on the ocean surface is very small compared with the rise in temperature of 
the land under similar circumstances. There are several reasons why this is true. 
Except when the sun is nearly overhead, most of its radiation to the surface of 
the sea is reflected back into space. As the sun approaches the meridian, at which 
time it is directly overhead, less of its radiation is reflected and more of it is 
absorbed by the ocean water. However, the sun*s radiation penetrates to a consider¬ 
able depth before it is completely absorbed. Whereas on land only a few inches of 
the surface absorbs all the radiation and has its temperature considerably increased, 
on the sea several fathoms of water absorb the radiation and the temperature in¬ 
crease of the water is very small. Another factor which acts to prevent temperature 
rise of the ocean surface is that some of the heat received is used in evaporating 
water. The evaporation cools the water and increases the concentration of salt, 
both of which increase the density of the water. The denser water then sinks and is 
replaced by cooler water from below. 


21. The reason for the fact that the sea water washing the coast is warmer in 
summer than in winter is 

(a) that the temperature change of the surface of the ocean is very small. 

(b) not discussed in the paragraph. 

(c) that the land warms the water. 

(d) that the ocean is very salty. 

(e) not known to those who have studied the way in which the temperature 
of the sea changes. 

22. Evaporation of sea water 

(a) acts to raise the temperature of the water. 

(b) does not affect the rate of heating the water. 

(c) is so small as to be negligible. 

(d) occurs more rapidly at night than during the day. 

(e) tends to counteract the heating effect of the sun*s rays. 

23. It can be concluded from statements made in the paragraph that 

(a) ocean temperatures are in general more stable than land temperatures. 

(b) land, being solid, retains heat longer and therefore its temperature 
is more stable than that of water. 

(c) because of the existence of currents in the ocean its temperature is 
less stable than land temperature. 

(d) the surface of the ocean heats more rapidly during the day than does 
the surface of the land. 

(e) the prediction of daily variations in ocean temperature is very 
difficult. 

24. The formation of a layer of warm water tends to be prevented by 

(a) an increase in the density of surface water. 

(b) absorption of radiant energy which strikes the water at right angles. 

(c) absorption of heat from the air above the water. 

(d) the fact that water does not conduct heat well. 

(e) the fact that water is relatively incompressible. 

25. One factor affecting the stability of land temperature as compared to that 
of sea water temperature is 

(a) the relative density of land and water. 

(b) seasonal variation in the concentration of salt in sea water. 

(c) the fact that the angle at which the rays strike the surface does not 
change on land as it does on water. 

(d) the fact that more solar radiation strikes the water than the land. 

(e) the fact that solar radiation penetrates water more deeply than it does 
land. 


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280 


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Viewed from a position behind the 
ship, a right-handed propeller turns 
clockwise when driving the ship ahead and 
a left-handed propeller turns counter¬ 
clockwise. Reversing the direction of 
rotation of the propeller drives the ship 
backward. When turning, the propeller 
exerts a sidewise force on the propeller 
shaft because the propeller blades pass 
through water under a greater pressure at 
the lower part of their arc than at the upper 
part of the arc. Thus there is a resultant 
force against the propeller shaft (and there¬ 
fore the stern of the ship) opposite to the 
direction in which the lower blades travel. 


Right-handed propeller viewed from rear. 
Propeller turning clockwise. 

Ship moving ahead. 

Direction of 
rotation. 


Great resistance 
to blades here. 



Small resistance 
to blades here. 

Net result is that 
the propeller shaft 
is pushed to the 
right. 


26. In a ship with a single propeller, the relationship between the sidewise 
force exerted by a right-handed propeller and the force exerted by a rudder 
turned to the right 

(a) is such that the two forces would exactly counteract one another. 

(b) is such that the force exerted by the rudder would be greater than 
that exerted by the propeller. 

(c) cannot be determined from information given in the paragraph. 

(d) is such that the ship would move to the right. 

(e) would depend upon whether the ship is turning to the right or left. 

27. Suppose a ship has two propellers, one on each side of the ship. If the 
sidewise force of one propeller is to counteract that of the other, then 

(a) the two propellers should always revolve in opposite directions. 

(b) both propellers should turn in the same direction. 

(c) it does not matter in what direction the propellers turn, pro¬ 
vided they are the same size and turn at the same speed. 

(d) it does not matter in what direction the propellers turn, pro¬ 
vided they turn at the same speed. 

(e) the direction in which the propellers should turn cannot be determined 
from the information given in the paragraph. 

28. If a right-handed propeller is turning in such a direction as to cause the 
ship to move backward and no other force except that caused by the propeller 
is operating, the stern of the ship will 

(a) tend to be pushed to the right. 

(b) move directly backward. 

(c) move first to the right and then to the left. 

(d) move first to the left and then to the right. 

(e) tend to go to the left. 

29. Assuming the same number of revolutions per minute, an increase in the 
diameter of the ship's propeller would 

(a) increase the sidewise force it would exert. 

(b) decrease the sidewise force it would exert. 

(c) have no effect on the tendency of the propeller to move the stern 
of the ship sidewise. 

(d) have an effect which cannot be determined from information given in 
the paragraph. 

(e) change the direction of the force exerted by the propeller in a way 
which would depend on the speed of the ship. 

30. A right-handed propeller would, when turning clockwise, tend to 

(a) cause the ship to turn in a circle to the left. 

(b) cause the ship to move directly ahead. 

(c) cause the ship to turn in a circle to the rignt. 

(d) turn the ship in an unpredictable direction. 

(e) exert a directional force which cannot be determined from information 
given in the above paragraph. 


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TEST II 


ARITHMETICAL REASONING 
Directions and Samples 


In this test you will be given some problems in arithmetic. Following each 
problem are five answers, lettered from (a) to (e); one of these answers is 
correct. Your task is to solve each problem and black in the space on the 
separate answer sheet which corresponds to the answer you think is correct. 
The following problems are samples. 

D. A boy bought a 25^ War Stamp every day for 4 days. How much 
did he invest in Stamps. 

(a) #0.50 (b) #1.00 (c) $1.50 (5) $2.00 (e) $2.50 


The correct answer to the problem is $1.00, which is answer (b). Notice in 
row D on the separate answer sheet in the section labeled "Arithmetical 
Reasoning — Samples" that space (b) has already been blacked in. 

Now work the next problem, and in row E on the separate answer sheet black 
in the space which corresponds to the correct' answer. 

E. A ball team played 27 games and won 16 of them. How many did 
it lose? 

(a) 1 (b) 7 (c) 10 (d) 11 (e) 43 


Solve the next problem, and in row F on the answer sheet black in the space 
which corresponds to the correct answer. 

F. If an airplane makes a trip of 500 miles in 2 hours, what is its 
average rate in miles per hour? 

(a) 250 (b) 251 (c) 498 (d) 502 (e) 1,000 


Now check your answers as I give the correct ones to you. 


ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? 

When the signal is given you will work more problems of the same kind. Mark 
each answer in the proper space on the separate answer sheet. Mark only one 
answer to each problem. Do not make any marks In this booklet. Work as 
fast and as accurately as you can. 


Work every problem. If you are not sure, mark the answer you think is correct. 


DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL THE SIGNAL "READY - BEGIN" IS GIVEN. 

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11 


283 



ARITHMETICAL REASONING 
Test Problems 


Solve each problem* Then blacken the space corresponding to the correct answer. 


31. One man out of every 6 from a company of 120 volunteered for scout duty. 

How many men volunteered? 

(a) 20 (b) 24 (c) 96 (d) 100 (e) 720 

32. A train of 5 standard cars accommodates 400 passengers. If another standard 
car is added, how many passengers can be accommodated altogether? 

(a) 480 (b) 500 (c) 515 (d) 525 (e) 2,000 

33. If a bomb used for practice purposes contains 5 pounds of black powder, 505 

pounds of black powder will be sufficient for how many of these bombs? 

(a) 101 (b) 250 (c) 255 (d) 500 (e) 2,525 

34. To strengthen each long ton of steel, 14 pounds of manganese are needed. How 
many pounds of manganese are needed to strengthen 26 long tons of steel? 

(a) ^ (b) l| (c) 12 (d) 40 («) 364 

35. There are 25 to 60 men in a platoon. A company consists of 3 to 4 platoons. 
What is the greatest number of men which can make up a company? 

(a) 75 (b) 149 (o) 170 (d) 240 (e) 595 

36. If a food ration allows a person 7 ounces of bread a day, how many pounds 

is ». person allowed per week? (1 pound * 16 ounces) 

(a) 1 (b) 3^ (c) 3| (d) 16 (e) 784 

37. A pace is 2- feet. How many paces are necessary to measure 150 feet? 

(a) 60 (b) 100 (c) 167 (d) 225 (e) 375 

38. A canal, known to be 20 feet wide at point X, measures 1 inch wide in an 
aerial photograph. A military target lying near X measures 2 inches In 
diameter in the photograph. What is the actual diameter, in feet, of the 
target? 

(a) 10 (b) 30 (o) 40 (d) 80 (e) 407T 

39. If 1 of a ton of coal per day Is required to heat a building, how many days 
will 20 tons last? 

(a) 4 (b) 10 (c) 25 (d) 75 (e) 100 

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284 RESTRICTED 




40, In a certain electric company a worker*s yearly pay has risen from $2,000 
to $4,872 in the past 10 years. What is the average yearly increase? 

(a) $14.36 (b) $28.72 (c) $287.20 (d) $687.20 (e) $1,436.00 


41. If a mechanized division, averaging 30 miles per hour, leaves its base at 
2s10 P.M., how many miles will it have gone by 5:30 P.M.? 

(a) 9 (b) 39 (c) 96 (d) 100 (e) 200 

42. Two towns, 15 miles apart, are ^ inches apart on a map. On that map, one 
mile is represented by how many inches? 

(a) (b) ^5 (c) | (d) 111 (e) 20 

43. The weight of the container is 6 % of the shipping weight of a certain food¬ 
stuff. How many tons of the foodstuff can be shipped if the total shipping 
weight is to be 500 tons? 

(a) 200 (b) 470 (c) 530 (d) 531.9 (e) 8,333 


44. The rate of absenteeism has doubled since the start of the war. If 6 out 
of every 200 workers were absent before the war, what percentage of the 
workers are absent now? 

(a) l|* (b) 6 % (c) 16|# (d) 33^ % (a) 94# 

45. The gasoline consumption .of a car at 60 miles per hour is double the con¬ 
sumption at 30 miles per hour. A motorist, traveling at 30 miles per hour, 
gets 20 miles on a gallon of gasoline. If gasoline costs 20 cents a gallon, 
how much does he save on gasoline for a 100 mile trip by traveling at the 
slower speed? 

(a) $.50 (b) $1.00 (c) $2.00 (d) $3.00 (e) $4.00 


46. The United States force at the Solomons consisted of 2 heavy cruisers, 

3 light cruisers, and 8 destroyers. What fraction of the force was 
destroyers? 

<*> \ (b) f Z (d) f <•>& 

47. Bomber X leaves London for Berlin one-half hour later than bomber Y. How 
many miles per hour must X travel to reach Berlin at the same time as Y if 
Y travels at 200 miles per hour and makes the trip in 3 hours? 

(a) 66 | (b) 166| (c) 17l| (d) 240 (e) 267 

48. Pre-enrollment examinations at a certain school eliminate 40# of the candidates 
for this school. Out of 150 candidates in 1941, how many were accepted into 
the school? 

(a) 60 (b) 90 (c) 110 (d) 144 (e) 146 


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13 


285 


49* A plane descends from an altitude of 1,000 feet at the rate of 12 feet each 
5 seconds, What will be its altitude, in feet, at the end of 60 seconds? 

(a) 144 (b) 280 (c) 856 (d) 975 (e) 999 


50. A soldier drives his Jeep at the rate of 20 miles per hour for the first 
6 miles and at the rate of 40 miles per hour for the next 36 miles. How 
many hours does it take the soldier to drive the 42 miles? 

<•> W (b) (C) (d) X 5 <•> A 

51. A gunnery crew, in firing at a target, makes 6 hits and 9 misses. What 

percentage of the shots are hits? 

(a) (b) 11^* (o) 40* (d) 54* <«) 66|* 

52. A transport plane can carry as much tonnage as a cargo ship of a certain 
class. If a flight consists of 4 transport planes, how many flights would be 
needed to carry the full load of 3 cargo ships? 

(a) rZ. (b) 1 (c) 4 (d) 9 (e) 16 


53. One officer and 8 men make up the crew of a patrol boat. What fraction 
of the total crew in a division of 4 patrol boats is officers? 


(a) 


32 




(c) | 


(d> $ 


<•>§ 


54. The number of men at a station Increased from 2,400 to 2,700, This Increase 
was an increase of what per cent? 


(a) 1.1* 


(b) 8* 


(c) 9* 


(d) 11.1* 


(.) 12.5* 


55. Booklets numbered from 750 to 1000 inclusive were missing. How many booklets 

were missing? 


(a) 247 


(b) 248 


(c) 249 


(d) 250 


(e) 251 


56. Three competing factories turn out a certain product in the ratio 3:4:5. 

If the production of the first factory is doubled while that of the other 
two factories remains the same, the production of the third factory will be 
what fraction of the new total output of all three factories? 

(a) | (b) £ (c) £ (d) 1 (a) 1 

57. The time in seconds, t, required by an object to fall d feet is represented 

2 

by the formula: d = 16t . What is the altitude, in feet, of an airplane 
if a bomb dropped from it takes 20 seconds to land? 

(a) (b) 32V5" (c) 320 (d) 5,120 (e) 6,400 


14 


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286 


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58 


#• 


. Prom each bonus payment must be deducted 1# for Social Security, 4% for 
state tax, and 5 % for Victory tax. How much bonus must an employee be 
paid if he is to receive $10.00 after deductions have been made? 

(a) #9.00 (b) $11.00 (c) §11.11 (d) $19.00 (e) §100.00 

59. The sides, top, and bottom of a shipping crate are each j inch thick. If 
each outer edge of the crate is 1 foot long, what is the inner capacity of 
the crate in cubic inches? 

(a) 121 (b) 1,296 (c) 1,331 (d) l,52o| (.) 1,728 

60. A patrol plane sights a motionless target 6 miles due south and radios a 
battleship which is 5 miles due east of the plane. For what range, in miles, 
should the guns of the battleship be set to fire on the target? 

(a) b\ (b) VIl (c) V5 0 (d) V5I (e) 61 


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INDEX 


The subject indexes of all STR volumes are combined in a master index printed in a separate volume. For access 
to the index volume consult the Army or Navy Agency listed on the reverse of the half-title page. 


AAF Tactical Center, Orlando, Flor¬ 
ida, 65 

Ability measurements; see Aptitude 
tests, types 

AC (arithmetical computation) test, 
21,151 

Activity-preference test, 53-57 
factor analysis, 55 
Kuder preference record, 53 
like most-like least form, 54 
reliability of scores, 56 
reliability of test, 55 
scope, 53-55 
scoring method, 55 
Strong vocational interest blank, 
53 

Adaptometers, 93-99 

clockface adaptometer, 96 
Hecht-Schlaer, RCN model, 96 
NDRC, Model III, 93-96 
Purkinje test, 96 

radium plaque adaptometer, 4, 94, 
96, 98 

Rostenberg, 93, 96 
Tufts-SDS test, 96 
visual motor coordination test, 96 

AGCT (Army general classification) 
test, 33, 61, 64, 70 

AI radar operator tests (airborne 
interception), 66 

Airborne oscilloscope operator tests, 
65 

Amphibious training; personal in¬ 
ventory test, 45, 48 
selection of crew, 104-105 

Aniseikonia, 71 

Antiaircraft personnel; see Height 
finder operators 

Aptitude testing methods; construc¬ 
tion of tests, 134-145 
evaluation of tests, 24 
need for new tests, 7 
periodic analysis of tests, 8 
recommendations for future im¬ 
provement, 7-9, 24, 31, 106 

Aptitude tests, types; activity-pref¬ 
erence test, 53-57 

airborne oscilloscope reading test, 
65 

arithmetical computation test, 21, 
151 

arithmetical reasoning test, 15, 
267-271, 283-287 

officers, 184-186, 200-202, 216-218 
code, 58-62 


combat information center test, 
63, 66 

Eddy test for radio men, 123 
electrical knowledge test, 89 
general classification test, 10-25, 
45, 150 

GIC radar operator test, 65 
gunnery proficiency tests, 128 
mechanical aptitude test, 11, 72, 
89, 150 

mechanical comprehension test, 
70, 175-183, 191-199, 207-215 
mechanical knowledge test, 11, 19, 
89, 150 

Navy basic classification test bat¬ 
tery, 1, 10-26 

Navy selective examination, 27 
officer qualification test, 1, 27-32, 
153, 173-218 

oral trade questions, 126 
oscilloscope operator tests, 64-67 
Purkinje test for night vision, 96 
radar, 63-68 

radio technician selection test, 126 
range and height finder operators, 
69-92 

Signal Corps code aptitude test, 
58 

signalman test, 128 
sonar pitch-memory test, 126 
summary of, 2 

tactical radar aptitude test, 65, 66 
telephone talkers, 100-102, 128 
Tufts-SDS test for night vision, 
96 

Winchman and Hatchman test, 
126 

work readiness tests, 107, 131 

AR (arithmetical reasoning) test, 
11, 15, 28, 150 
Navy test, 267-271, 283-287 
officer qualification test, 184-186, 
200-202, 216-218 

Arithmetical computation test, 21, 
151 

analysis of scores, 21 
content, 21 
use, 22 

validity, 22, 151 

Arithmetical reasoning test, 11, 15, 
28, 150 

Navy test, 267-271, 283-287 
officer qualification test, 184-186, 
200-202, 216-218 


Army general classification test, 33, 
61, 64, 70 

Bainbridge Naval Training Center; 
mechanical knowledge test, 18 
radio code tests, 61 
Battle noise recordings for tests, 49 
Bausch and Lomb ortho-rater, 67, 74 
Biegel, speed of response test, 58-62 
Boca Raton Field, Florida, 66 
Botts stereoscopic test, 90 
Brown University, 36 

California University, 66 
Camp Blanding, Fla., 94 
Camp Davis, North Carolina, 71 
CHL (chain home link) radar 
operator tests, 65 

CIC (Combat Information Center) 
aptitude test, 63, 66, 67 
Classification, mechanical aids, 5 
electric accounting card, 119 
Findex filing system, 108 
interviewing guides, 107 
McBee personal record file, 109 
Q-card, 108-110 
selectometer, 105, 110-117 
^Classification procedures, 103-133 
classification specialists, 105-107, 
124, 130-133 

coding of occupational skills, 133 
evaluation of past experience, 104, 
109, 119, 125, 127 
for special groups 
aboard ship, 104, 127 
advanced classification, 6, 125- 
133 

Amphibious Training Com¬ 
mand, 104 

battleship crews, 104 
code operators, 4, 58-62 
destroyer crews, 105 
fire controlman, 72 
landing craft schools, 129 
night lookout personnel, 4, 93-99 
radar operators, 4, 27, 63-68 
range and height finder opera¬ 
tors, 4, 69-92 
recruits, 5, 118-124 
telephone talkers, 4, 100-102 
Classification procedures, improve¬ 
ment, 118, 121-124, 127-133 
interview, 8, 120, 122 
job assignment, 120-124, 125-127 


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289 


290 


INDEX 


objectives of classification, 5, 103, 

118, 125 

performance tests, 128-130 
permanent classification records, 
106 

principles of good classification, 
105-107 

secondary test batteries, 122 
specialized ratings, 133 
standardized procedure, 106, 130 
typical problems, 126 
use of service school grades, 130 
weighting of personnel informa¬ 
tion, 107, 115 

Classification test, Army, 33, 61, 64, 
70 

Classification test battery for Navy, 

119, 150 

see also Navy classification test 
Classification tests; see Aptitude 
tests, types 

Clockface adaptometer, 96 
Coast Artillery Corps, 71 
x Code aptitude tests, 58-62 
code receiving test, 60, 128 
low correlation with background, 
62 

ROA-2; 58 

Signal Corps code aptitude test, 58 
speed of response test, 58-62 
types, 58 
validity, 59-61 
visual code reception, 62 
College Entrance Examination 
Board; gunnery proficiency 
tests, 128 

Navy officer qualification test, 27 
Combat Information Center aptitude 
test, 63, 66, 67 

polar-grid coordinate subtest, 66 
predictive ability, 66 
relative movement subtest, 66 
reliability and validity, 67 
scale reading subtest, 66 
Coordinate reading test, 65, 66 
Cornell selectee index, 49 
CRT (code receiving test), 60 
Cutoff score, 40, 48 

Dartmouth Eye Institute, 71, 77 
Dearborn-Johnston test, 69, 81 
Destroyer crews, classification, 105 
Distractors, 137, 142 
Drew Field, Florida, 64 

Early Warning radar operator tests, 
65 

Eddy test for radio men, 123 


Eighth Air Force, radar operator 
selection, 66 

Eikonometer, 69-72, 77-79, 87 
Electric accounting punched card, 
119 

Electrical knowledge test, 89 
--Emotional stability tests, 36-52 
Cornell selectee index, 49 
New London-NDRC questionnaire, 
49 

personal inventory, 36-49 
use of battle noise, 49 
Error, unit of (UOE), 84 
Escape tank training, 47 
ESF scores (equivalent target 
area), 98 
Esophoria, 70, 72 

EW (Early Warning) radar opera¬ 
tor tests, 65 
Exophoria, 70, 72 

Factor analysis, 19-21, 55, 142 
Navy classification test, 19-21 
principal component method, 55 
Findex filing equipment, 108 
Fire controlman, selection tests, 72 
Fort Eustis, Virginia, 71 
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 72, 88-89 

GCI (ground control interception) 
radar test, 64, 65 

General classification test, Army, 33, 
61, 64, 70 

General classification test, Navy, 10- 
26, 45, 150, 233-256 
analogies subtest, 11, 15, 240, 252 
fleet edition (self-administering), 
18 

opposites subtest, 11, 15, 237, 249 
sentence completion, 10, 15, 234, 
246 

speed element, 150 
Ground control interception radar 
test, 64, 65 

Gunner proficiency tests, 128 

Hecht-Schlaer adaptometer, 96 
Height finder operators, 4, 69-92, 105 
see also Visual tests and instru¬ 
ments 

fire controlman, 72 
improved selection criteria, 82-83 
performance criterion score, 71, 83 
prediction of classroom grades, 89 
qualification tests, 70, 90 
recommended selection program, 
87 

validity of performance criteria, 
84-87 


visual test scores, 88 
Horst, item analysis, 152 
Hyperphoria, 70, 72 

Interocular distance, 73 
Interpupillary distance, 70-74, 83, 
105 

definition, 73 

for white and negro populations, 
74 

Interpupillometer, NDRC, 69, 73 

Kuder preference record, 53 

LCVP crew, tests and training, 129 
Leadership prediction, 1, 32-35, 48 
accuracy, 34 

Army general classification test, 3 
artillery officers, 33 
correlation with civilian positions, 
3, 33 

infantry OCS, 32 
Marine Corps OCS, 48 
'--Literacy test, 126 

Lookout personnel selection, 4 
see also Night vision test devices 
“Lung,” submarine escape appli¬ 
ance, 47 

M 2 stereoscopic trainer, 69, 71, 79 
MA 2 mechanical comprehension 
test, 70 

MA 3 mechanical comprehension 
test, 70 

Maddox rod spectacles, 74 
Massachusetts vision test kit, 69, 71, 
74, 76 

description, 74 

relation to ortho-rater test, 76 
reliability, 74 

MAT (mechanical aptitude test), 
11, 72, 89, 150 

McBee Keysort system, 133 
McBee personal record file, 109 
Mechanical aptitude test (MAT), 
11, 72, 89, 150 
block counting, 11 
mechanical comprehension, 11 
speed element, 150 
surface development, 11 
Mechanical comprehension test, 28, 
70 

officer qualification test, 175-183, 
191-199, 207-215 

Mechanical knowledge test, 11, 19, 
89, 150 

electrical vs. mechanical scores, 
19 

reliability, 19 


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INDEX 


291 


speed element, 150 
statistical analysis, 18 
Medical Field Research Laboratory, 
North Carolina, 48 
Medical Research Department, New 
London, 37 
Mirrophones, 101 

MKT (mechanical knowledge test), 
11, 19, 89, 150 

Morse Code, learning process, 58 
Multiple-choice tests, advantages, 
136 

National Research Council Commit¬ 
tee on Service Personnel, 37 
National Reserve Midshipmen's 
School (W.R.), Smith Col¬ 
lege, 30 

Naval Training School, Dartmouth 
College, 30 

Naval Training School, Fort Lauder¬ 
dale, Florida, 66 

Naval Training School, Virginia, 65 
Naval training stations; Great 
Lakes, 12 
Newport, 12, 39 
Norfolk, 12 
San Diego, 12 

Navy classification tests, new, 15-42 
ability measurements, 19, 20, 21, 
23 

analysis of scores, 17, 19-22 
arithmetical reasoning test (AR), 
11 

characteristics of test, 16 
correlation of tests, 17, 23 
correlation with service school 
grades, 24 

factor analysis results, 19-21 
Form 2; 18 

general classification test, 10 
mechanical aptitude test (MAT), 
11 

mechanical knowledge test 
(MKT), 11 
range of difficulty, 15 
reading test, 11 
recommendations, 24 
reliability of tests, 17 
validity coefficient, 23 
Navy classification tests, old, 11-14 
deviation of scores, 14 
intercorrelation of tests, 12 
item analysis, 12 
Navy radio code aptitude test, 11 
Navy standard recruit test in 
arithmetic, 11 

Navy standard recruit test in 
English, 11 


Navy standard recruit test in 
spelling, 11 

O’Rourke general classification 
test, 11 

O’Rourke mechanical aptitude 
test, 11 

statistical analysis, 11-14 
validity, 13 

Navy officer qualification test; see 
Officer qualification test 
Navy radio code test, 61 
Navy selective examination O-l; 27 
Navy standard scores, 18 
NDRC adaptometer, 93-99 
NDRC interpupillometer, 69, 73 
New London Research Laboratory, 
96 

New London-NDRC questionnaire, 
49 

"XNight vision test devices, 93-99 
clockface adaptometer, 96 
correlation to lookout perform¬ 
ance, 97 

Hecht-Schlaer adaptometer, 96 
NDRC adaptometer, 93-99 
Purkinje test, 96 
Rostenberg adaptometer, 93 
Smith visual motor coordination 
test, 96 

Tufts-SDS test, 96 
validity of tests, 96, 97 
NROTC selection test, 27, 35 
NTSch tactical radar school, 66 

Officer aptitude rating, 30 
Officer qualification test, 1, 27-32, 
153, 173-218 
content, 27, 173-218 
correlation with service school 
grades, 30-32 
Form 1; 28, 173-186 
Form 2; 29, 187-202 
Form 3; 203-218 
male and female candidates, 31 
Navy selective examination O-l; 
27 

recommendations, 31 
selection of test items, 30 
validity of forms 2 and 3, 29 
vDfficers, report on fitness, 35 
ONOP’s (Offices of Naval Officer 
Procurement), 27 

OQT (officer qualification test), 1, 
27-32, 153 

O’Rourke general classification test, 
70 

O’Rourke mechanical comprehension 
test, 70 


Ortho-rater, Bausch and Lomb, 67, 
69, 72, 74 

description of test, 74 
Oscilloscope code reception, 62 
Oscilloscope operator tests, 65, 66, 
89 

Otis intelligence test, 39 

Parallax errors, range finders, 83 
Paratroopers, selection, 47 
Pennsylvania State College, 104 
Percentile rank, score distribution, 
145 

' Performance tests, 25, 128-130 
gunnery proficiency tests, 128 
LCVP crews, 129 
radio code receiving test, 128 
shipboard proficiency, 130 
signalman tests, 128 
telephone talker test, 128 
use of proficiency measure, 127 
Personal inventory test, 3, 36-52, 
219-232 

application, 50 
civilian use, 52 

comparison with general classi¬ 
fication test, 45 
content, 36, 219-232 
correlation with conduct ratings, 

46 

development of test, 37-38 
differentiating ability, 40 
enlisted men’s long form, 37-42, 
219-225 

enlisted men’s short form, 42-44 
escape tank training, 47 
forced-choice form, 37 
item analysis, 39 
officer’s form, 48, 52, 226-232 
purpose, 36 

psychiatric endorsement, 51 
recommendations, 52 
reliability coefficient, 39, 43 
selection of paratroopers, 47 
selection of submarine personnel, 

47 

use of case histories, 37 
validity, 37-43, 48, 51 
where employed, 51 
“'Personnel classification; see Apti¬ 
tude testing methods, Ap¬ 
titude tests, types, Classifica¬ 
tion procedures, Performance 
tests 

Phoria, 71, 74 

PI test; see Personal inventory test 
Plan position indicator (PPI), 65 
Polar-grid coordinate test, 66 
Princeton University, 70, 77 


RESTRICTED 




292 


INDEX 


projection eikonometer, 77 
selection of height finder opera¬ 
tors, 70 

Proficiency measures; see Perform¬ 
ance tests 

Profile comparison method, 115 
Projection eikonometer, 69-72, 77-79, 
87 

selection of stereoscopic opera¬ 
tors, 87 

single and multiple, 77-79 
stereo-vertical test, 71, 77-79 
Psychiatric discharges, 39 
Psychiatric tests, 3, 36-52 
Cornell selectee index, 49 
New London-NDRC question¬ 
naire, 49 

personal inventory, 36-49 
use of battle noise, 49 
Psychological Corporation, 28, 58, 
100 

Pupillometer, Shuron, 69, 71, 73 
Purkinje test, 96 

Q-card (enlisted personnel qualifica¬ 
tion card), 108, 120, 126, 131 
Quality classification code, 120 
Quantitative reasoning ability, 20 

Radar aptitude tests, 63-68 
A scope reading, 65 
application, 67 

combat information center test, 
63, 66 

coordinate reading test, 66 
future development, 68 
oscilloscope operator tests, 65, 66 
polar-grid coordinate test, 66 
predictive ability, 65 
ratio estimation test, 66 
selection of bombardier instruc¬ 
tors, 66 

specifications for radar operators, 
63 

tactical radar aptitude test, 65, 66 
validity, 64, 65 
visual proficiency, 63, 67 
Radar officer selection tests, 27 
Radio code aptitude test, 61 
Radio code receiving tests, 128 
Radio technician selection test, 126 
Radium plaque adaptometer, 94, 96, 
98 

correlation with lookout perform¬ 
ance, 98 
ESF scores, 98 

Range finder operators; see Height 
finder operators 
Ratio estimation test, 66 


Reading test, 11, 15, 257-265, 273-281 
speed element, 150 
Reasoning ability test, 20 
Recommendations for future im¬ 
provement; aptitude tests, 
7-9 

classification procedures, 127-133 
criteria for evaluation of selec¬ 
tion tests, 24 

height finder operators, 87 
Navy classification test, new, 24 
officer qualification test, 31 
personal inventory test, 52 
recruit classification procedures, 
121-124 

special ability tests, 25 
use of experimental tests, 31 
visual tests, 91 
Regression coefficients, 151 
Reliability coefficients of grades, 30 
Reliability index, 152 
Report on the Fitness of Officers, 35 
ROA-2 code test, 58 
Rostenberg adaptometer, 93-99 
disadvantages, 96 

Scale reading test, 66 
SCCAT (Signal Corps code aptitude 
test), 58 

Scoring keys, 39, 42, 48, 56 
Scoring machine, 137 
Scoring of tests; see Test scoring 
Scott Field, 61 
Selectometer, 5, 105, 110-117 
electrical, 112-115 
electrical vs. optical design, 115 
evaluation, 117 

multiple correlation method, 111 
multiple cutting score, 111 
optical selectometer, 110-113 
reliability, 112 
use of fillers, 111 
weighting techniques, 110-113 
Selman Field, Louisiana, 66 
Shuron pupillometer, 69, 71, 73 
Signal Corps code aptitude test, 58 
Signalman tests, 128 
Smith visual motor coordination 
test, 96 

Snellen E charts, 74 
Sonar pitch-memory test, 126 
SOR (speed of response) test, 58-62 
adoption by Army and Navy, 61 
comparison with other tests, 61 
predictive ability, 59, 61 
validity, 59-61 
visual adaptation, 62 
Sound powered telephones, per 
nel, 100 


Spearman-Brown formula, 12, 13, 
19, 142 

Speed, effect on test scores, 149, 150 
Speed of response test (SOR), 58-62 
Standard scores, 18, 145, 146 
Stanford University, 110 
Stereoscopic acuity, 74, 76, 90 
relation to visual acuity, 90 
Stereoscopic testing centers, 69, 71 
Stereoscopic tests; see Visual tests 
and instruments 
Stereoscopic trainer, 69, 71, 79 
Stereo-vertical test, 71, 77-79 
Strong vocational interest blank for 
men, 53 

Submarine escape appliance, 47 

Tactical radar aptitude test, 65, 66 
coordinate reading, 66 
polar-grid coordinate, 66 
ratio estimation, 66 
validity, 66 

Telephone personnel selection, 100- 
102 

effect of sound-powered tele¬ 
phones, 100 

limitations of speech interview, 
102 

listening ability, 101 
memory-span ability, 101 
speech interview, 100-102 
speech rating, 100 
training of speech interviewers, 
101 

unsatisfactory speech traits, 101 
Telephone talker test, 126, 128 
Test analysis, 139-142, 151-154 

distribution of item response, 139 
illustration of item analysis, 151- 
154 

item analysis sheet, 139-141 
item difficulty, 139 
purpose, 141 
validity of items, 141 
Test construction, 134-145 
administrative facilities, 135 
background of examinees, 135 
directions to examinees, 137-138, 
143 

format of test, 137 
item selection, 136, 141-142, 151- 
154 

multiple-choice type, 136 
periodic evaluation of test, 146 
purpose of test, 134 
range of (Hfficulty, 136, 139, 144 
time eloquent, 135, 138, 143, 150 
linistration, 144 
bn of tests, 135, 144, 151 


) 43 1 



REGRADED UNCLASSIFIED 
SEC ARMY SY TAG FEi 










INDEX 


293 


Test scoring, 137, 145-150 
conversion tables, 145 
effect of speed, 149-150 
errors, 147 

establishing norms, 145-146 
percentile rank, 145 
raw scores, 145 
standard scores, 145-146 
standardized procedure, 147-149 
test scoring machine, 137 
Test types; see Aptitude tests, types 
Thurstone, code learning test, 58, 61 
Thurstone, factor analysis, 19 
Trade questions, oral, 126 
Tufts trainer, 90 
Tufts SDS night vision test, 96 

UOE (unit of error), 84 
U. S. Employment Service trade 
tests, 131 

"^Validation of tests, 151 
Validity index, 152 
Vectograph-pursuit test, 69, 81 
Verbal ability, 20 


Visual acuity, 70-74, 90, 96 

relation to stereoscopic acuity, 90 
Visual code reception, 62 
VVisual tests and instruments, 69-92, 
126 

see also Night vision test devices 
application, 88 
Botts stereoscopic test, 90 
comparison of tests, 82 
correlation among tests, 90-91 
Dearborn-Johnston test, 69, 81 
description of tests, 73-82 
exophoria, 70 
fire controlman, 72 
hyperphoria, 70 
interpupillary distance, 70-74 
M2 stereoscopic trainer, 69, 71, 79 
Maddox rod spectacles, 74 
Massachusetts vision test kit, 69, 
71, 74, 76 

motor coordination, 96 
NDRC interpupillometer, 69, 73 
ortho-rater, 69 
phoria measurements, 74 
projection eikonometer, 69, 72, 77- 
79, 87 


recommendations for future re¬ 
search, 91 
scope, 71 

Shuron pupillometer, 69, 71, 73 
stereoscopic testing centers, 71 
stereoscopic trainer test, 71 
stereo-vertical test, 71, 77-79 
unit of error, 84 

validation experiments, 71, 88 
validity, 73-83 

vectograph-pursuit test, 69, 81 
Vocabulary test, 27 
Vocational interest blank, Strong, 
53 

Vocational tests; see Aptitude tests, 
types 


WD AGO Form 20; 106 
Winchman and Hatchman test, 126 
Window stops, for height finders, 83 
Work readiness tests, 125, 131 
Work-sample tests, 25 
Wulfeck (W), test 91 

Yerkes Laboratory, Yale University, 
63 
























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